Trigger
by SeaIng
Summary: Six years ago, Beck was forced to erase Jade's memories of him when Rebellion came looking for new recruits to keep her safe. So what happens when a girl named Tori Vega comes along and pulls the trigger to her hidden past?
1. Prologue

**New story already? I must be crazy! Oh yeah. I am.**

**This is going to be mostly Jori (which happens soon) and some Bade eventually too I guess. Because this is the prologue, I'm just setting everything up and letting y'all know what's going on. Hopefully it's not like an information dump, because when people have superpowers it can be very confusing sometimes.**

**It was inspired by a 2009 action film starring Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning, in case you're wondering. ;)**

**Disclaimer: (I saw someone else put this and I thought it was creative) Not my sandbox, just my sand castle. :D**

**Rated T for action violence.**

**On with the story!**

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PROLOGUE

Hello there. I'm someone that you might've seen on TV, a magazine, or even had the luck to meet in person. People talk about me all the time; they write blogs and create websites with all the trivial facts I've released over the years.

They're pretty accurate for the most part.

Except for one very crucial piece of information.

I'm a caliber, another word for 'mutated human being.'

There are hundreds of us that live on Earth, each with a physical or psychic ability that's unique from the rest. I'm what people have identified as a Predicter, meaning that I can see and predict the future, although it's not always a hundred percent exact.

For calibers, we have our own special government from the rest of the humans, called Agency. It's run worldwide by the most powerful officials known to our species. Governments from other countries and continents connect with ours in order to try and keep balance and peace between the two races.

But just a few years ago…well, maybe it was more than a few…Agency was attacked by one of its own ex-workers. Yep, the one-and-only management that could keep all the calibers under control was destroyed; split apart, by one man.

His name was Archelaus Patterstone, an Augmenter (he could absorb the powers of other calibers and use them for his own). No one knows how he did it, but after he scattered the Agency staff, he re-named it Rebellion, a similar organization that instead of creating harmony causes destruction.

Archelaus goes around the world, recruiting every caliber he thinks is of exceptional talent, and brainwashes them into becoming his soldiers, so that when the time is right, he'll be able to gain domination and wipe out the race of humans, letting us calibers take over instead, his original dream that got him fired in the first place.

Any caliber could be a target for his exploits. That included me and my two best friends, both of whom have their own special abilities. One of them is a Trigger, considered to be the rarest, with the psychic talent to read any human mind, find certain memories and hide them, the only way to get them back being to set off the chosen trigger.

I can see the future, like I've mentioned earlier.

And I knew that Archelaus and his group were going to come to draft us. However, I saw more things, things I'd rather not tell you now. You'll understand as our story goes on. But back to the point.

When Archelaus wants you to join his posse, he doesn't take no for an answer. 'Our' world has turned unruly. Agency seems to have disappeared completely and they were the only hope of keeping us safe and maintaining equilibrium with the rest of the world.

Now we've got a maniac in power and the only thing anyone can do is fend for themselves, hoping that they wouldn't be his next target, which was unfortunately not true for the majority of them.

Everything was over when I discovered he wanted my best friend and me.

We would be turned into his slaves, maybe even killed in the attempt to overthrow everyone else to rule the world.

But the future is always changing: by the smallest of decisions or simplest of acts. I saw it all, trying to set it up so that the plan in the end would work out perfectly, and we could all be saved.

If only I could live that long to see it happen.

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Jade's POV

It was a horribly sunny day here in Los Angeles, California. Cat had invited Beck and I to spend a week of our summer vacation at her uncle's beach house, and of course we agreed. You can't say no to Cat, after all. She may be a perfectly healthy seventeen-year-old, but if needed, she could throw a fit like a two-year-old.

She was sitting outside on the sand, looking up at the golden sky. As predicted earlier, there was a slight breeze running through the air, and her hair blew to one side, the waves crashing loudly against the sandbank.

Cat was a Predicter, and a darn good one too. Every one of her predictions so far had come true, it was almost scary.

And my boyfriend, Beck, was a Trigger, an extremely uncommon gift for a caliber. That's what made him even more special to me. Back in freshmen year, I always knew he was different, not to mention very handsome. But I thought that he had something going on with Cat, since they were _always_ together and talking.

During the school year, when one of them would be absent, the other would be too, and after a while people figured out that it wasn't just a coincidence; we wondered what was going on between them.

But it turned out they were just really, _really_ good friends, ever since they had discovered their powers one day in the second grade. They stayed together in fear of people wanting to hurt them because they 'weren't normal,' especially since that was around the time Archelaus Patterstone began to corrupt everything.

I had no problem with that, but then again, I was a caliber too.

The very first time Beck had the nerve to come and talk to me in the beginning of high school, he told me that I was a Regenator. I called him crazy and didn't speak to him for a week, but deep down I knew that there was some strange truth in his words, even if I didn't quite understand what it meant.

When I was little kid, I'd get hurt a lot (from pushing other kids off of slides and engaging in fights I was not meant to win), but I'd noticed that my cuts and scrapes would heal very, _very _quickly. Usually, it took minutes, but as I got older, it sped up to seconds. I thought I just had a high metabolism or whatever, but now I know that it's just because that's what my specific skill is.

"Hey, Jadey! Come here and look at the waves!" Cat called me. She was standing up, wading into the foamy water.

I rolled my eyes and leaned back on the blanket, letting the sand sift through my fingers. Beck was lying next to me, his arms shading his face.

"No," I responded.

"Please!" Cat begged, staring at me from about thirty feet away.

Just then, I felt a pair of hands around my waist lift me off the ground and start carrying me towards the water.

"Hey! Beck!" I whined as my boyfriend held me and walked over to the edge of the ocean. He kept moving, until the tides were level with his hips, but he held me high above it. "Hold on! I'm not even wearing my—"

SPLASH!

The whole world turned into bubbling, salty water. I tried to open my eyes, but it burned too much, so I kicked upwards, taking a huge breath when my head broke the surface.

"I'm going to kill you, Beck!" I shouted, just as a wave crashed down over my head. I went under again and emerged, spluttering and wiping my mouth. "Dangit!" I dog-paddled towards the shore, my clothes sopping wet and my feet dragging on the sand.

Beck and Cat were both standing clear of the breakers, doubled over in laughter, grabbing their stomachs. I clomped over to them, shaking my wet hair like a dog.

"Eek! Jadey!" Cat squealed, running away. Beck grabbed me, holding me close against his warm chest. I don't think he seemed to mind the chill of the ocean water, or the fact that I was drenched entirely with it and pressed up along his body.

I felt his lips against my damp hair.

"I love you," he murmured, giving me a small kiss. I tilted my head up and pecked his chin since I couldn't reach any higher. He smiled.

"Can you bring that blanket over here? I'm getting kind of cold," he said as we walked away from the pounding waves, even though the sun was still out.

"Lazy bum," I mumbled as we sat down, me reaching over and taking the edge of the towel and dragging it towards us.

"You're so funny," Beck said as we lay down on top of the soft cloth.

I nuzzled my head against his throat. He chuckled and started running his fingers through my damp hair.

"I don't know where I'd be without you," he continued. "You are my entire life, you know that?"

"I do," I replied, grinning happily.

"Cat! Can you bring the camera over here?" he called for our friend.

Cat scrambled over, the sun setting lower and lower, an old Polaroid camera in her hands. What happened to the new age of technology? Why was she stuck with that ancient, museum-worthy artifact?

She ducked down next to us, holding it in front of her face and clicking the button, capturing us all in the shot. The photo came out of the bottom slot, and before we could see, she stuffed it into her pocket quickly, standing up.

"One more?" she asked, cocking her head. "Just the two of you?"

"Yep," Beck said, putting his arms around me and pulling me closer to him. "I want to remember this moment forever." His voice sounded very sad, and I even saw Cat's face dampen a little, but she took the picture and after my eyes adjusted from the blinding bright light, her expression was clear again.

The photo emerged and she handed it to Beck. It took a few seconds to focus, but I saw us together, holding each other, smiling broadly. It was really cute.

"Thanks, Cat," Beck said, tucking the picture into one of his dry shirt's pockets. "Let's go back to the house, okay Jade?"

Reluctantly I got up and followed my friends in the evening glow.

The house was surprisingly warm, and Beck wanted me to follow him to 'our' bedroom. Cat had a room all to herself, but I don't think she actually minded, since she needed peace and quiet when her visions occurred, not that they were really necessary for the trip.

Beck lay down on the bed and I plopped next to him, our faces inches from each other. Even though I smelled like seawater, he didn't seem to mind.

"Jade, if you could tell me one last thing, what would it be?" he asked, rubbing a strand of my hair in between his fingers. We had talks like this all the time, but somehow, it seemed more serious than usual.

"Well, I'd tell you that you are the most amazing boyfriend in the world, and I love you like no one else," I answered, my voice sounding very small. "You complete me, like I was a jigsaw puzzle with a missing piece for all of those years I didn't have you."

He actually took a deep sniff, and his eyes were sparkling in the dim light. Wait…was my Beck crying? He leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine gently.

"And I love you so much too."

I smiled back, falling asleep with his arms tight around me.

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"Jade! Jade, wake up!"

Beck shook me violently, and at first I thought I was still dreaming. I mean after all, just a few hours ago we were admitting our love for each other like a married couple, and now he was shouting at me like a drill sergeant.

I finally opened my eyes and found him towering over me in the darkness.

"Jade, get your shoes on, okay? We need to go."

"What?" I blinked sleepily, sitting up as Beck shoved a pair of hiking boots and socks into my hands. "Why, babe? What's going on?" I asked, quickly slipping them on.

"We need to go," he repeated, his tone frantic and nervous.

"Why?"

"Archelaus and Rebellion are here," he replied grimly, pulling me off the bed and dragging me towards the nearest window. "I need you to get out of here, okay? Just jump. There are bushes on the other side."

I was frozen. Rebellion was _here_? That couldn't be good. I didn't know a lot about them, mostly because Beck and Cat refused to tell me anything, but I _did _know that they liked to find calibers and were going to use us to take over the entire human race.

At that moment, we heard the crackle of gunfire, people shouting. There was a thud and a zap, and someone let out a high-pitched scream.

"Go, Jade. I need to find Cat."

"No, let me go with you," I begged as he yanked the window open. I didn't want him to risk his life for me, or Cat. Plus, if I got hurt I could heal immediately; they couldn't.

But before I could say any more, he had picked me up and tossed me out. I landed heavily on a thick bush, the twigs stabbing into my skin. "Ow!" I complained, rubbing the cuts as they healed over quickly.

There were more terrifying noises coming from the little beach house. We were basically in the middle of nowhere; I didn't think there was a single soul within hearing distance to listen to our screams. And I didn't have my phone.

Did Cat invite us here only so Rebellion could come and attack us, if what Beck was saying was true and they were here? I sat there on the gravelly sand, my heart racing for the safety of my boyfriend and best friend.

And out of nowhere, Beck came flying out of the window. He had blood on his face from what I could make out, and his breathing was labored. He fell several feet away from me, and started crawling towards me.

"Beck!" I went over to him.

"Jade," he whispered, grabbing my hands. His were shaking like crazy, and his voice was cracking. "Jade, Rebellion is here. I think they already have Cat, and they're coming for me. They're coming for me because I'm a Trigger." Beck was almost crying now. He put his hands on either side of my head, holding it in place, and keeping me from turning around and looking back at the house. "I don't want them to hurt you too."

"Beck," I said, getting a strange feeling in my gut.

"Look at me," he interrupted harshly.

But I couldn't, mostly because it was too dark to see anything. All of a sudden, there was a bang and the beach house burst into flames. I saw the fire in the reflection of Beck's brown eyes, and mine locked onto his like he'd asked.

"I love you very much, Jade. I'm so sorry," he whispered.

And then he did it.

His pupils turned red and widened sideways, holding on to mine and I couldn't look away. He was doing the one thing he promised he would never do to me.

He was setting a trigger.

"Beck," I choked, grabbing his hands and trying to pull away, not caring anymore that Cat could be dead and Rebellion would be coming after him and possibly me next.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed, his eyes growing until they were blood-red and getting brighter. I went blind, and it felt like I was floating in darkness. A pain flared in my temples, and I fought the urge to reach up and touch it.

I saw images of Beck and Cat shimmering in the blackness, and sounds filled my ears of all of us being together and having fun times. I spotted more and more pictures, some of us hugging, goofing off, and even the recent one of us on the beach.

The snapshots collected in one big circle, each overlapping another in a sort of collage. The pain was getting worse; it was practically strangling me. And then all of a sudden, the pictures started swirling around like they were being flushed down a toilet. They kept moving, making me dizzier and dizzier. My head throbbed, and I felt like I was going to throw up.

Then the memories started disappearing completely, one by one. I reached out into the dark and tried to grab them, to keep them from slipping out of my mind forever. But just as the last one had eluded my reach, a thick veil fell between us, cutting me off from them.

My heart started burning too, like someone was cutting chunks of it out with a razor-edged knife. I screamed, but something covered my mouth. The pain was unbearable; tears streamed down my face and I hiccupped angrily.

Slowly, I forgot about every single memory I've ever had of Beck and Cat, and as time passed, the knife in my chest cut out every feeling I've had for them as well. I didn't know who they were anymore, let alone give a single care.

When the process was over, my vision came back and I found myself staring at a boy whose face was shadowed in the nightfall.

"Jade?" he asked in an unrecognizable voice. _How did he know my name? Who is this guy_? "Jade are you okay?"

I couldn't speak. My head was swimming too much and there was an ache in my chest that hurt every time I took a breath, but I didn't know why. I was perfectly healthy, after all, and I should be healing (or already healed) within minutes, if there was any damage.

"Jade," the boy continued, "one day you're going to meet a girl. And when you do, she's going to give you a necklace. A necklace, Jade. When you receive it, you'll understand and remember. I'm so sorry I had to do this."

_Remember what? Why is he so sorry_? I thought. _Where am I anyway_?

The only things I remembered was staying at a beach house, and jumping out the window when Archelaus's Rebellion broke in. And now I was sitting here with some random boy I didn't even know.

"I love you," he said.

_I don't even know you_.

But then, he struck my temple, and I blacked out, never to see him again.

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**If you're kind of confused about what's going on or whatever, it starts to make more sense later on, I promise. This is not so much of a mystery story, but it's going to have lots of (my favorite) ACTION. And Jori. :) It's kind of a mix with X-Men (if you guys know what that is) but I kind of put my own twist on it.**

**Drop me a review?**


	2. Six Years Later

**Wow. Six reviews for one chapter? I'm speechless. :O Thanks you guys!**

**This chapter is a lot of flashbacks and inside look at other characters, unfortunately, which is why I'm updating early so I can get it out of the way. I promise Jori starts next chapter. Cross my heart. Don't get lost or confused, and if you do, just let me know and I'll clear it up next chapter or P.M. you or something.**

**By the way, this is (if you can't tell) six years after the prologue takes place.**

**ENJOY.**

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CHAPTER 1  
Jade's POV

I stood on the edge of the concrete balcony, overlooking the crystal blue lake and feeling the breeze slapping my face gently, the humidity choking the air. Inhaling deeply and closing my eyes, I tried to relax.

At twenty-three years old, I didn't really look the part. As my healing ability advanced, my physical aging started slowing down and a lot of people thought I was still seventeen or eighteen, which resulted in some conflicts when I came to Hawthorn Lake requesting to rent an apartment.

Of course I lived by myself, not that I really minded. I liked to keep to myself, anyways. When I ran away from my home in California, I took no one and nothing with me.

It may have been six years later, but I still remembered that day.

The day that caused me to leave everything and everyone I loved.

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_I woke up with an absolutely throbbing headache. Feeling around me, I cut my fingers on pieces of jagged rocks and pushed myself onto my elbows. I was lying in a forest, in the middle of nowhere, it seemed._

So how exactly did I get here again_? I thought, wiping my eyes._

_The air felt thick and humid, like I was trying to breathe underwater and even my vision seemed to be fogging up. _What is happening_?_

_And then I tried to stand up and fell flat on my butt._

_"Ow," I murmured, grabbing my head as it started pulsing on impact. My chest hurt, like it was seizing up and I was having a heart attack; I waited for it to pass, knowing that if any of my internal organs were under fire I'd just heal from it all in minutes._

_Nothing happened._

_No passing out, falling on my face or trembling like an animal._

Then what was going on_?_

_Realizing that sitting here was not going to solve any of my issues, I used a tree trunk for support and forced myself to stand again. The whole world started spinning, but after a moment it stopped, and I took a hesitant step forward._

_Finding that I could walk, I continued moving. I needed to get out of here and find help or something._

_The last thing I remember was being all alone at a beach house of a friend, which one, I couldn't recall, and then stupid Archelaus and his minions of the forming Rebellion had paid me a visit. Luckily, I got out by jumping from a window, and then I guess I had crawled out all the way over here before passing out._

_Ooo, maybe I was the only person ever to survive a recruitment session from Archelaus. That would be a great story to tell the kids one day. I should be making headlines in the world of calibers._

_I trudged along randomly, not being able to make out the shapes of anything, but the sun was coming out slowly, and I knew that I was going in the right direction at least. Once I had cleared the forest, I came to the edge of an asphalt-paved road._

_There were no cars going by at the moment, but I'd be lucky if any came at all. __Needless to say, I needed a ride (I had no idea where my phone went) wanted to go back home. _

_I sat by the side of the street for over an hour until a white Mustang car came by. I stood up, waving my arms at it, and the driver stopped, getting out of their car. It turned out to be a tall handsome guy with a buzz cut and wearing dark shades._

_"Anything I can help you with, Miss?" he asked._

_"I need a ride."_

_"Where to?" The man didn't say no._

_"Uh, Hollywood, California."_

_"That's a little bit far. About a two hour drive, I reckon." The man crossed his arms over his broad chest._

_"Well then, can you give me a ride to the nearest gas station or something?" I begged. Whether or not this guy was trustable, I had to get home. And anyway, I could handle myself if necessary. You can take on any human being when you have the ability to heal from any injury. Unless he was also a caliber, then that would make things slightly more difficult. _

_"No. I can afford to give a pretty girl like you a ride all the way to the 'woods," he said, smiling a bright smile. "I was actually just heading down there myself. Hop in, Miss."_

_ I walked around the car to sit shotgun, resenting getting the nice leather chairs filthy with the dirt on my clothes, but the man, whose name I learned was Zac, didn't mind in the least. _

_ For the long trip, he explained that he was a Marine in the Navy and off duty for the next few months so he could spend time with his wife and unborn child before he went away again for half a year. _

_ I sat there and mostly listened to what he had to say, not wanting to put any information about me forward since I seemed to be having trouble remembering most of it. I did not know whose beach house I was at, nor who I was with. Thinking further back, not a single memory of school or summer was ringing a bell. _

_ Zac dropped me off a few blocks away from my house since for some reason the main street had been cut off. I offered to re-pay him one day, but he told me that it was 'his pleasure and I wish there were more people like you out there,' whatever that meant._

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_My jaw dropped as I got closer and I practically started running towards my house._

_Flashing, wailing police cars surrounded the small residence, and I saw Dad standing on the front lawn talking to some officers heatedly. Some of them were holding onto huge leashed German shepherds who were sniffing through the grass and shifting on their paws uneasily. _

What happened and why are they here_?_

_Creeping onto my neighbor's sidewalk, crawling through rose bushes and getting thorns snagged in my hair and skin, I found a way to get close to the house without actually being spotted._

_"No, no! You don't understand! I didn't do anything," my dad was arguing._

_"Your daughter spent a few days at a beach house with her friends, and now it's been completely demolished out of nowhere, with no signs of anyone left," a policeman said back._

_"Well, she's not here. Go check for yourselves if you don't believe me."_

_"That's not the point, Mr. West. We need to know what kind of campaigning you'd like to start since your daughter and some of her friends are missing," the man insisted to my father._

_"Officer, you can do whatever the heck you want. I don't care. So what if she's gone? Never made a difference in my life for the better, anyways." My dad dropped the matter, trotting over to his car and driving off, leaving the policemen stunned and shocked by his words._

_I sat there in the bushes, my hands balling up and my fingernails digging into my palms. _Dad doesn't want me…big surprise_…_

_At that moment, I knew this was my chance to get away from this place. _

_Staggering backwards, I started sprinting, my feet slipping underneath and my heart pumping fast. Tears and sweat blinded me, but I just kept going, not looking back, not caring, not knowing where I was to go_.

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So that's how I ended up here. In Orlando, Florida. Without a good-bye to my friends or family, but I already knew for a fact that my dad didn't give a care about me leaving or staying. My mom had long disappeared shortly after I was born, divorcing my father for another, most likely kinder, man.

I lived here in a small apartment that wasn't too bad. It contained a full bath, small kitchen, living room and separate bedroom, but was better than nothing and I had my privacy. The view I had of the lake it was named after was magnificent, and usually I just sat on the balcony after work and watched the reflection of the clouds and sun.

My name is Jade West, caliber extraordinaire.

But I pretended to be a girl named Ruby East in order to protect my true identity for many reasons: the police were probably still looking for me way back in California, and to keep certain 'people' from knowing that I was also a mutated human being.

I only had one 'true' friend, and even then I'd rather stay by myself than hang out with him, as nice as he was. My goal was to be as insignificant as possible in the city because of the job I decided to take up.

I was the Batman of Orlando, a superhero if you will.

Because I ran away from home before I had fully graduated high school, most companies and businesses refused to hire the 'drop-out' and I needed another plan, one that didn't need a four-year college degree or having to sit behind a desk all day.

Late at night, I'd go out and catch criminals of all sorts. Robbers, drug dealers, killers, rapists, you name it. When most of them _are _normal human beings, the worst they can do to you isn't that bad when you can heal from any injury.

Occasionally I'd run into another caliber, but luckily it was rare because some of them really knew how to use their powers and I would end up in a pretty big mess. I'm still alive though, so I guess that tells you something about the way I can handle tough situations.

The rewards for capturing the bad guys and turning them into the police station were high enough to keep me renting out the room I had and live a decent, quiet life.

Going into my bedroom closet, I pulled out my work clothes and laid them on the unmade bed. A white tank top, a plaid, dark button-up and black jeans. Just something that would help me blend in as a midnight vigilante. I yanked them on and left the apartment with my phone and keys.

_Time to do what I do best_.

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Sikowitz's POV

"So what are we still doing here?" Lane Alexander's voice broke the silence.

I was sitting cross-legged on the slick ground, the straw of a fresh coconut stuck in my mouth. Swallowing, I asked, "What?"

"Why are we still here?" Lane repeated, coming to stand in front of me.

"Try a coconut and you'll understand," I gestured up to the tall palm trees above us, the branches threatening to crack under the pressure of having to hold up so many pieces of heavy fruit.

"He wasn't talking about our location," Charles Eikner pointed out, walking over and knocking the object out of my hand unceremoniously.

"Oh, man. That was my last bendy straw." Standing up and letting my worn clothes sag, I reached down and fetched the plastic tube from the spilt coconut. "What is wrong with you?" At the same time, I caused my other person to appear, an exact replica of myself, and controlled him to climb up the nearest tree and fetch me some more fruit.

I was a Bilocater, meaning that I could duplicate my body (only once), unlike Replicators who could make dozens of themselves, but I could control my other self to do something completely different from me, whereas the Replicators's clones acted as a whole.

It was very helpful in almost any situation, which was why the calibers had elected me for the head of Agency when it first came up.

"What's wrong with _me_? What's wrong with _you_?" Eikner put his hands forcefully against my shoulders and sent me staggering back a few feet. My copy dropped several dense overgrown seeds down below, almost striking us in the head. "You got us into this mess in the first place and you don't even know how to get us out of it!"

"Hey you guys! Be quiet! I'm tryin' to meditate over here and if you don't shut y'all pieholes then I'm gonna blow each one of you all the way to Texas!" Helen Dubois called threateningly from her spot on the rocky overhang a few feet above us.

Being a Vortexer (being able to inhale or exhale with extreme force), we didn't take the joke lightly and toned down our voices immediately.

"What mess are you talking about, Charles?" I challenged.

"The one that we're in right now. I can't _believe _you let that Archelaus guy take over! It's been years and at some point the whole world of calibers is going to be destroyed all because of you!" Eikner pointed an accusing finger at my chest.

"I can't take all the blame. It was my measly agents that let him past in the first place!"

"You guys should stop fighting." Lane was staring at us both. I avoided eye contact with him at all costs. Being a highly trained Empather, he had the gift of controlling others' emotions, whether they wanted him to or not. "That's not going to do anyone any good."

"Don't start this argument again. You've been doing the exact same thing, every day, every week, for the past nine years, Eikner," I spat some coconut pulp out of my teeth onto the ground.

"Well, we're here stuck in the middle of _nowhere_, most people think that we're _dead_, and Archelaus has taken over. He's spent so much time recruiting calibers it probably won't even matter at this point who's going to stop him. It'll be impossible against his army."

"What do you want me to do about it? What _can _we do about it?" I reminded my comrade angrily. "He's too strong. No one can track him down, and anyone who gets in his way is killed. We're better off here for now. Just wait until he's fully in power before we try and fight back."

Bending down, I picked up a broken coconut shell, tapping at the clean-cut edges dripping with white, pulpy milk and shoving the straw through a crack before bringing it to my lips.

"We've waited enough. Nine years of it. I think now is our time to make the difference." Eikner looked almost excited, his eyes sparkling at the idea. Helen had turned around to face him, and so had Lane.

"So…what are you suggesting?"

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**Argh, more caliber powers to keep track of! Good luck! :)**

**Hopefully I captured the teachers'/staffs' personalities. It was kind of hard. **

**And as a heads-up, if any of you have watched the first X-Men movie, then you might know who Wolverine is. I'm kind of basing his loner-gruff-person attitude on Jade, because I think those two actually have a lot in common like that. And I love Hugh Jackman and Elizabeth Gillies. Hahaha. :)**

**You want to tell me if you're still liking it? Action and Jori next chappie. :D**


	3. Unexpected 'Rescue'

**Who likes action?**

**Who likes pain and violence?**

**Who likes Jori?**

**Okay, so go on and read the chapter! :) Wow I have such a sick mind... :(**

**And for those of you asking if Beck and Cat died...I'm not going to answer that directly but I'll give you a hint: can you identify the three characters on the cover of this story? }:)**

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CHAPTER 2  
Jade's POV

SMACK.

Blood dripped from the corner of my mouth and I fell forward, grabbing my face in pain.

"You're such a cocky girl, thinking you can take us on, huh?" a voice in the dark said.

There was suddenly a huge combat boot that engulfed my vision; it came down and I felt my teeth loosening and saliva starting to build up. I spit it out, running my tongue around my mouth as the bones tightened back into place.

"So you must be that one everybody's raving about."

"Yeah, the one who turns in criminals for the reward money and lives off of it," another person snarled, punching my shoulder. The blow wasn't very loud, but it felt like it was dislocated and I crawled away. "That seems nice for you but not for the folks who end up rotting away in jail."

"They deserve to be there," I spat, rolling onto my back to face my four attackers.

They were all part of a gang that had been suspected of selling marijuana for years, but they'd always managed to elude capture from the police somehow. Using the oldest trick in the book, I'd asked for some of the members to meet me because I wanted to buy some, and they fell for it, thinking that I was just another customer when I was trying to get them arrested, but they were proving to be incredibly strong and were even taking me, the Regenator caliber, down.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, you don't understand anything, do you?" Someone grabbed my right arm, pulling me up and forcing my other one behind my back. My head snapped on my shoulders and I looked up as someone came in front of me.

"Let me go," I snarled, struggling to get away when someone hit me in the side of the face, blood streaming from my nose onto the collar of my shirt. _Well, so much for an easy job_.

"You don't understand, do you girlie? No one's taking us down yet, and no one will." Fingers touched a strand of my dyed hair, rolling it between their index and thumb before letting it fall limply against my face again. "Who do you think you are, anyway?"

"Don't call me girlie," I growled.

SMASH.

My head twisted when they punched me in the jaw. The whole world was spinning and I wanted to stop. Struggling violently, I freed my arms and was getting ready for payback when something cold pressed against my forehead.

"Don't move." It was a huge, shiny knife, glittering in the darkness.

"You think you can hurt me with that?"

"Absolutely." He dragged it across my face, ripping open a bloody gash. I fell backwards, putting pressure against the cut. The man was watching with tiny eyes as I drew my hand away and saw the wound closing up from my healing power. "What the—"

"Surprise." I stood up, fists raised, wiping the excess blood out of my eyes.

"Oh, well here's some news for you, girlie. We're calibers too. All four of us." The three men and women closed in a circle around me, cracking their necks and flexing their fingers. "And one little Regenator's not going to stop us."

"Don't call me girlie!" I shouted again, agitated and leaping at the leader.

Suddenly, a pair of arms came around my waist and threw me onto the hard ground. I pushed off of the stones and landed on my feet, twisting and knocking down the only other female.

Energy surged through my body when she fell with a thud, and I scooped my PearPhone out of my pocket, speed-dialing the cops.

"Uh-oh. We can't have you doing that." Another man slapped the object from my hand, and I grabbed his wrist, trying to flip him over and partially succeeding, but as he came plummeting backwards, in the night I missed the glint of the eight-inch knife he'd been hiding and he pushed it diagonally through my stomach.

Screaming, I bent over, gripping my body in the intense agony.

Although I could heal, my powers did nothing to numb the pain I felt when the injuries were being inflicted. I could feel _everything_. I've been beaten almost to death, slashed with swords, stabbed a few times, shot once, and every bit of it was registered. That was the only part I didn't like about being a Regenator, or a caliber in general, because I was always getting myself in these kinds of sticky situations.

Still crouched over, the third man stabbed a knife near the back of my right shoulder, and my body spasmed, causing me to fall to my knees, sucking in as much of a breath as I could manage.

When there were foreign objects in my system, I healed a lot slower, especially around that area, but eventually if I didn't take them out myself then my muscles would do it, although that was usually a lot more painful. However, in some cases, like when I was shot with bullets, it was the only way possible. Right now, I was pretty much paralyzed and if I didn't do something fast these guys were going to kill me, in whatever way that was.

Being a Regenator and having the ability to heal, I actually had no idea how we were supposed to die. Physically, it was extremely difficult, and most Regenators died mentally or emotionally.

Some people said that if you cut our heads off and separated it from the rest of our body we wouldn't be able to heal and stay dead. Others claimed drowning or suffocation forever would work too. Either way, I didn't know who to believe, and I wasn't about to find out.

The leader walked up to me, twelve inches of ragged, steak-cutting metal twirling dangerously between his fingers. I didn't have the strength to get up and argue, the only thought on my mind about ripping the knife from my gut. The cold edge touched my throat; the jugular vein to be exact, the man tightening his grip and ready to slit it.

_I guess this is the end of Ruby East…or Jade West_.

"STOP!" a new voice was loud and clear.

I looked up through watery eyes and saw a girl standing at the lighter end of the alley. She looked Latina, with light velvety skin, and was holding a black gun in her hands, aimed at the dealers attacking me.

"Oh shoot, let's get out of here!"

They all started pushing past me to run in the opposite direction. Instead of cutting me with the big knife, the man somehow impaled my left arm with a huge shard of glass instead, knocking me back onto my butt.

Footfalls echoed near me and the figure of the girl was swimming above my head. "Are you a Regenator?" she asked as I felt the bruises on my face healing slowly.

I wanted to tell her to back off and that I could take care of myself, but my mouth barely moved as I lay there pathetically in a forming puddle of my own blood.

"Please answer me. Don't tell me you're dead," she pleaded.

"Haaahhh…" a low hiss escaped my lips.

"All right. I'm going to get you out of here." The girl's face was set and determined.

_Oh god, don't take me to the fricking hospital. I can take care of myself, thank you very much, kid_. I tried to sit up, grabbing on the nearest item for support, which ended up being the stranger's hair, and she squealed in pain, clawing at my hands, while I adjusted my body.

"Ow, ow, ow! No! Not my hair!" she panicked.

In the sudden alarm, I let go and landed on my back again, groaning when I felt the knife push deeper. _You said you're trying to help me? Maybe you should just help yourself, kid_.

"Oops. Sorry. Here, where do you want me to take you? I know you probably don't want to go to the hospital if you're a Regenator…"

_Can you just shut up_? My head throbbed and I felt like something heavy was sitting on my chest. The girl's voice suddenly seemed very high-pitched and whiny and it was hurting my ears.

"Apartment…pocket…keys…" I gasped, not caring what the heck she had just said.

"Okay. Cool. Do you want me to move you now, or wait until you pass out? Because I think it would hurt less if you…"

_ Just shut your freakin' piehole__ and GIVE ME A MINUTE_! I wanted to scream at her, but the strain of trying to was too much for my body and I fell unconscious.

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Tori's POV

The pale girl on the ground's eyes rolled in her head and she went limp. _Okay great. Now I can just pick her up and take her to her apartment_. I reached into her jacket pocket awkwardly and yanked out the silver key, with the engraving of Hawthorn Lake. I knew exactly where the place was.

Massaging my scalp to focus my strength, I wrapped my arms underneath her bloodstained body and tried to lift her up.

"OOF!"

I fell back down, her body jerking slightly as she hit the ground. _Hmm, not quite as light as I thought, huh? That's all right_.

More determined, I decided to try and use my caliber powers on her. Yep, me, seventeen-year-old Tori Vega was also a caliber, just like the rest of my family. I could move things with my mind; a Kinecter, although I wasn't very good.

I concentrated on the girl, stretching out my arm and narrowing my eyes, trying to get her body off the cold pavement. She rose a few inches, her limbs dangling helplessly, but then in my excitement, my mind wandered for just a few seconds and dropped her with a thud, probably pushing the knife in her back further in.

"Okay, never mind, I'll do it the manual way," I muttered, rubbing my hands together, knowing this was going to be a difficult journey. After almost ten minutes of extreme effort, I finally got her body over my shoulder.

Staggering around and grabbing onto the brick walls for support, I went out into the black of night to get this person home safely.

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It felt like hours but I finally managed to find the right room, dragging her body up the stairs without anyone seeing. Well, maybe that's because it was past midnight and no one was stupid enough to be out, but I did feel very accomplished of myself nonetheless.

I inserted the key into her apartment, opening the door, and bringing her inside. Putting her on the couch in the living room, I started to look around for some medical supplies.

The bathroom was grimy and somewhat cramped, disgusting me but I pushed through it and dug around, finding a bottle of rubbing alcohol and some bandages underneath the sink. When I got back out to the living the room, the girl was awake and sitting, her hands gripping the handle of the blade sticking out of her stomach.

"HOLY CRAP WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I yelled, throwing everything up into the air and rushing forward.

The girl wasn't paying attention, her eyes closed and with a loud grunt, she swiftly yanked the huge knife out of her stomach, blood still thickly coating the edges. The wound was big, but within seconds the skin started stitching itself and it disappeared completely, only leaving a red-stained hole in her shirt.

She took a deep breath and said, "Well that feels better."

"So that's how it works?" I sank to my knees as she adjusted her body, reaching to her left arm and gripping the tiny point of glass sticking out.

"Huh? Grrff…um yeah." She examined the large piece in her fingers before throwing it to the floor where it lay with the other knife.

I narrowed my eyes, sitting there awkwardly.

"What? You never met someone like me before?" The girl looked slightly confused, but her expression changed almost instantly. "Hey, could you get this knife out of my back? I can't really reach it."

"Wha—you want me to—huh?" I spluttered.

"Take. The. Knife. Out. Of. My. Back," she said slowly, like I was from some foreign country.

"I heard you the first time," I snapped as she turned around, lifting the brown hair off of her shoulder. "But isn't this going to hurt you though?"

"Probably."

"And you're okay with it?"

"Kid, I've been through worse. So just take the fricking knife out of me, all right? It's not like I'm going to hurt you with it or anything."

Slowly, I stuck my hand out and touched the edge of the handle. She sucked in a breath, and I saw her skin twitching involuntarily underneath the thin sheet of her shirt.

"I'll just uh, count to three and then I'll pull, okay?"

"Whatever you want." The girl seemed very impatient.

"One…two…" I wasn't a really squeamish person, but this had to have been the most bizarre thing anyone's ever asked of me. "Three." My fingers tightened and I pulled as hard as I could, practically falling off of the couch with the force.

"Ow!"

The knife was a lot longer than I had first expected, and reminded me of something that you'd see in a butcher shop. Tossing it away, I said, "I got it."

"Thanks." She rotated her right arm around in its socket. "So you brought me all the way up here? By yourself?"

I nodded, sitting down next to her.

"That's pretty impressive, I guess." The girl stood up, flexing her back and sighing. She went over to the kitchen sink and spit out a mouthful of something before turning around to face me, leaning against the counter. "So you're a caliber too then?"

"Yep." I snapped my fingers and made a roll of gauze shift from the floor to my outstretched hand, a bubbling warmth spreading through my body from the small task. Like I said earlier, I was still learning and sucked a lot.

"Cool." The girl pursed her lips. "Well, then I guess since I don't need to keep any secrets from you. What's your name, kid? My real one is Jade West, but around here I like to pretend that I'm Ruby East."

"Tori. Tori Vega."

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**Yay! So now Jade and Tori have finally met each other. Just to let everyone know ahead of time, Jade is older than Tori, and in general, unless specified otherwise, none of the main characters have ever met with each other. **

**So...did you like it? I know I did. :D**


	4. To Help or Not

**Hmm...more Jori...lots of talking. Hopefully they are all in character! :) Maybe some comedy and humor if you can find it. :D**

**How many of you saw The Blonde Squad? Some pretty good funny moments and -darn- no Cabbie kiss. :(**

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CHAPTER 3  
Jade's POV

I was still in a lot of pain as my body was now trying to restore the internal damaged I sustained, but I obviously didn't need my 'guest' to know. The last thing I needed right now was to look weak with a stranger in the apartment.

"Well, you know this is really great that you're a caliber, especially a Regenator," Tori said in a small voice, folding her hands in her lap, not moving from her position on the couch.

"Why's that?" I filled a glass of water and gurgled the blood off my teeth.

"You'll know about Rebellion then."

"And?" I took off my button-up and went into the fridge, relishing in the cold air coming out over my sore body. If this girl weren't here, I probably would've just climbed inside and shut the door.

"I need your help." She started playing with her hands uncomfortably.

"With?"

"Archelaus…came…and took my sister, Trina. She hated him so much before, but now it's like she's in love with him. I think she's his second-in-command, actually." Tori's eyes drooped and her lip puffed out.

"What do you want me to do about it?" I glared at her.

"Help me get her back."

"Hold on…what gave you the idea that I'd go out and help you all of a sudden?" Maybe the words were a little bit harsh, but I didn't care.

"I saved your life. It's the least you can do to pay me back."

I scoffed. "No, you didn't."

"_Yes_, I did."

"Nope. And anyway, I'm a Regenator. Whether you helped me out or not, I didn't need it," I shot back, crossing my arms over my chest.

"He was about to slit your throat!" Tori was getting exasperated.

"Kid, do you even know what the definition of a Regenator is?" I asked, toning down my voice. "It means that when I get hurt, my powers kick in and keep me from going over the edge so I can stay fighting for whatever it is I'm doing. It's going to take a lot more than a cut to slow me down."

"Well you weren't looking too good when I showed up."

I had to admit, the girl had some sass. Taking a deep breath to calm down, I said, "Look, Toro, is it? I've got a life and job of my own, and that includes staying out of Rebellion's way so I don't get caught. I'm not about to help some thirteen-year-old girl find her sister who got in his way in the first place."

"It's Tori, I'm seventeen, and for the record, we didn't go looking for Archelaus and his Rebellion. He came for us, because if you actually know a thing or two, you'll know that not a single sane person actually goes _looking _for him."

"What-ever. Sometimes bad things are going to happen and you just have to suck it up and move on. But if you really need the help, the door's right over there."

"No one else understands my situation. You know how hard it is to find other calibers nowadays?" Tori had tears in her eyes when she realized that I was serious about not wanting to help her. "They're all too scared and in hiding. Because of Archelaus."

"_And what do you want me to do about it_?" Good Lord, what was I to her? Certainly not a goddess that could snap her fingers and create world peace, because if I was I would not be living here in Florida under a fake name and risking my life every day just to make decent cash.

I walked over and grabbed her arm roughly, dragging her over to the exit. "Go somewhere else if you want help. Just because I try and stop criminals doesn't mean I'm going to take on the current most powerful caliber in the world. I have my own problems, too. And Archelaus isn't one of them."

"Well, why isn't it?" she persisted.

"It's just…" my mind was working uncomfortably slow, "I don't need to get involved in another mess with him, okay?" Angry that Tori was prying confidential information from me, I yanked the door open and shoved her outside.

"What did he do to you, Jade?"

"None of your business, kid. Just go home. Stop walking around at the crack of dawn talking to strangers. It's not safe for someone like you." The words were my farewell to her.

Tori looked down at the ground, tears running from her eyes and I shut the door in her face.

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I stood there for a few seconds, listening as the girl started sniffling heavily before trudging away, her shoes scraping against the concrete. Going over and picking up the knives and glass off of my floor and threw them into the sink to wash off. _I may not have captured the drug dealers this time, but at least I got some new tools_.

Turning on the water and letting it splash over the crusting blades, I couldn't stop thinking about what the Tori girl had said to me.

The part about her seeming so concerned about my 'past with Archelaus' was extremely bothersome. Of course, I was just referring to how he ended up being the reason why I was forced to run away from home, but maybe she was overthinking the situation, especially since he had kidnapped her sister.

My eyes drifted to the exact spot on the couch where Tori had been sitting. I turned the faucet off, drying my hands on a towel and walked towards it. The key to my room that she'd used to get was lying there, and I saw the black gun wedged between the couch cushions.

Reaching over and picking it up, I held it gently, examining it carefully. It didn't seem to be loaded, so I tried to open magazine to check, but I found that it was glued together completely.

_Hold on…this gun isn't even real_!

I dropped the weapon onto the ground.

_Tori _is _such an innocent girl…she shouldn't be out there by herself. Where the heck are her parents_? Realizing that it was going to be my fault if she ran into any trouble because I had kicked her out of my apartment, a lump rose in my throat uneasily.

_Come on, Jade. Have a heart for once. Just ask what exactly she wants of you before making a final decision. Remember that one point in your life where you were all lost and alone and needed help that no one would give you_?my subconscious tried to talk to me.

Only because the judgment was logical and I didn't want to seem like a totally bad person (I really wasn't, just very antisocial), I picked up my key and ran out the door.

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"Tori? Tori, where'd you go?" I called out, looking down both ways of the empty hallway. I ran towards the nearest staircase, almost tripping over the whole thing in my haste to reach the ground floor.

"Tori?" I repeated, exiting the building.

The streets were pretty empty except for a few cars driving past, and there was not a single soul along the sidewalk. The metal lampposts illuminated the roads a little, and I jogged around, poking my head in the alleys and calling for Tori.

Suddenly, I had an idea of where the kid might be. I went back to the area where I had met up with the drug dealers, and what do you know, she was there. Sitting by the garbage cans, her knees drawn up to her chest, face swollen and red from crying in the few minutes that I had left her.

"Tori?"

I walked up to her slowly, trying to ignore the small pools of my blood gathered around her in the dips of the stone pavement. "Hey."

"Come to make more fun of me because I asked for your help?" she sniffed.

"Well for one thing, you sure aren't acting like the seventeen-year-old you claim to be." I sat down next to her. "And no. I'm here because you reminded me of myself when I was your age."

"Is that a good thing?" Tori wiped her nose on her sleeve.

"I'm here. That should say something."

"Right." Tori started chewing on her bottom lip hesitantly, the tears subsiding and her nose quit running. I saw her fingers run across the ground, hitting a small item and picking it up. It was my PearPhone. "Is this—"

"Yes, thank you." I snatched it from her hands before she could say anymore and stuffed it into my pocket. "Too bad I didn't get to use it tonight." Shaking my head, I quickly went on with what I had to say. "It's pretty prestigious that you want to get your sister back from Archelaus. He's hurt a lot of people, for all sorts of reasons, you know."

"That's why no one wants to help me."

"Where are your parents, kid?" I asked.

Tori's eyes shadowed and she avoided my gaze instantly, becoming extremely interested in twiddling her thumbs.

"Fine. You don't need to tell me now, but one day it's going to need to come out, kid. Especially if we're going to try and fight off the world's most dangerous criminal mastermind."

"Wait…you mean it?"

"Why else would I be here at who knows what time, sitting with you next to puddles of my own blood?" I gave her a playful grin and helped her stand up. "My life got ruined because of Archelaus six years ago. I don't think I want that happening to you too."

"Maybe you're not such a bad person after all."

I laughed. _That's what I wanted to hear_.

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We went back to my apartment and sat down at my tiny kitchen table. I got Tori a soda from the fridge and settled for a bottle of beer for myself. She raised an eyebrow when I set down the drinks.

"What?" I tore the cap off with my bare hands.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-three." Raising the bottle to my lips I guzzled down half of the beverage.

"You don't look that old."

Swallowing loudly, I said, "Well, my healing slows down the aging process. And it also helps me from getting intoxicated quickly. One time I drank an entire six-pack in less than half an hour. Woke up the next morning perfectly healthy."

Tori shrank in her seat, sipping her soda slowly.

"At least, I think it was the next morning…"

She changed the subject almost immediately as I chuckled darkly. "So I'm sure you're very aware that Archelaus Patterstone isn't a nice guy and destroyed Agency nine years ago, right?"

"Correct."

"But do you know how it all started?"

"Never had a chance to learn, never gave a care," I replied, tipping my chair on two legs. "So humor me."

"Before he ruined everything, Archelaus used to actually work for Agency himself. He posed the idea of wanting to take control of the human race, and was extremely aggressive about it. Eventually everyone got tired of his pestering and Erwin Sikowitz, the last head, fired him.

"However, this made Archelaus even more angry, so he decided to take matters into his own hands."

"By forming Rebellion and using its power to conquer others," I finished.

"Pretty much."

I emptied the beer and shook my head as the alcohol burned down my throat. "All right, so I understand he's really evil and whatever, but why do we need to be so concerned about Rebellion if we're just getting your sister back—"

"I thought we were also going to stop Archelaus."

"Whoa." I stood up, almost in alarm, shoving myself away from the table like it was a hot stove. "You never said we were taking the big man himself down."

"Then how are we going to get Trina if he's still in power?"

"There's other ways. There always is." Catching all kinds of criminals had taught me that anything was possible when your life was on the line. Tori continued looking at me funny, so I explained, "I'll help you rescue Trina. But that's it. Don't expect me to assist you in killing Archelaus. That's out of my range, kid."

"If we have the chance to do so, then we should take it!"

"Not we, _you_. I'm just a Regenator who doesn't want to risk giving up everything she's worked so hard to earn, okay? You have no idea how hard I have it sometimes."

"All right. _But_…just keep that idea in your mind, in case the time is right." _Boy, she really expected a lot of me. Why can't she just do all this by herself_? "Like I was saying, Rebellion is also Archelaus's secret army that he's been building up for years and years. No one knows exactly how big it is now, nor do we know when he'll strike."

"Hold up, I never quite caught what kind of caliber he was. Does that have something to do with why he's so powerful?"

"It has to do with everything. He's an Augmenter."

"Which is…?"

Tori shook her head, "It's someone who can absorb the powers of another caliber just by touching them and use it for their own. Depending on how much they take out of you determines how long they'll have it, but eventually you'll gain your powers back, once they leave them."

"And this works with _any _caliber power?"

"Yep. Physical or mental. When an Augmenter like Archelaus really knows what he's doing, it's almost like fighting a battle against yourself. Every power you have he can take, rendering you useless until it runs out."

"That's…pretty scary," I admitted.

"Mhmm." Tori leaned forward and there was a dull clang as something solid hit the edge of the table. My head snapped up and I saw a pair of silver dog tags hanging around her neck from a thin chain. One of them had an engraving of some sort and the other was blank.

"Oww…" There was a sudden throb in my temple, like someone stuck me with a knife. I pressed my palm against it, squeezing my eyes shut.

"Are you okay?" She settled back in her chair.

"Humm…yeah. Sorry. Headache, I think." I retrieved another bottle of beer from the fridge, wrenching off the top and swallowing a big mouthful, swishing it over my teeth for good measure. "What? If you want any, sorry, kiddo. I don't serve to minors…well actually, even if you were of age I still wouldn't give you any."

She kept looking at me.

Finally, I decided to ask, "So kid, what makes you think that us of all people will are going to be able to save an Archelaus follower and possibly end his reign when no one else has been able to do it before?"

"For starters, we have something that I think no one else does." Triumphantly reaching into her pocket, she took out a small beaded bracelet covered with blood and laid it on the table gently.

"You know I eat from there, right?"

"Sorry." She placed it in her palm and held it out so I could take a look.

"I'm not going to touch that," I said, sitting back down.

"Okay, well, this is one of Trina's bracelets I managed to find it in the wreckage the day Rebellion came for her. Normally all of the followers clean up the crime scenes so they don't leave any evidence behind, but they were a little careless and left this behind." Tori was grinning from ear to ear.

"And?" I was missing the point.

"We can use the blood on this to track him down! That is the biggest reason why he's impossible to find. If we knew where he was, then he'd be long gone."

"What if it's not his blood?" I questioned.

"We're just going to have to take our chances, aren't we?"

I sighed, not liking how she continuously kept using the word 'we.' I felt like I was already in this until _both _goals had been accomplished, even though I had technically only signed up for one. "How are you going to do that?"

"Um…I'm still working on that part."

I exhaled loudly from my nose. "Well, I don't know any calibers with a tracking ability, but I do know a super genius who spends his time in some basement building satellite machines that can locate almost anything and everything in the world," I threw out.

"Oh really? You think he can help us?"

"Yes. He's the closest thing I have to a friend. I'm sure he'll say yes. And if he doesn't…well…" I pounded a fist into my other hand and smiled evilly.

"So what's his name and when can we go?"

"Tomorrow…or later today. And it's Dr. André Harris."

"_Doctor _André Harris?" Tori asked hesitantly.

"He thinks it makes him sound smarter, I don't know," I scoffed. "But don't worry, he's a caliber too. An IQer, obviously, and considering he's only twenty, he's accomplished quite a lot." IQer was just a short way of calling someone who had the capacity to store almost every bit of information thrown at them and learn new things very quickly.

"This is really great progress then," Tori said, rubbing her hands together.

"Sure thing, kid. Just make yourself at home and you can sleep wherever you want except with me." I pushed myself away and headed into my bedroom, smiling at the way she had looked at me.

"Like I'd want to…"

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**Are you enjoying it so far? It's very interesting writing their conversations and stuff, trying to make sure it's not over-the-top or anything.**

**Yep. I have nothing else to say yet. }:) Until next time!**


	5. Locating the Lab

**I put some unnecessary action because I was bored. But hopefully you enjoy the Jori-ness of it. :)**

**I was supposed to update sooner but since I was writing this on my phone while my parents went shopping, some little kids thought I was playing games and they came over to watch and eventually kind of took it and started playing with it themselves. :/**

**So ANYWAY...**

**Oh yeah! Thanks for all the reviews! I can tell some of you are picking up on certain things... }:)**

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CHAPTER 4  
Tori's POV

I spent a restless night in Jade's apartment. It was easy to tell that she never had any visitors before or talked to a decent person in a while. She was awkward and hesitant when we were discussing things yesterday in a civil manner, almost like she was just waiting for me to attack or something. I felt really bad for her. But I was at least glad she was going to help me. Mom and Dad would understand why I had to run away.

When I woke up on the couch, I looked around sleepily like I couldn't remember where I was. There was a blanket draped over my body, which I guess Jade had put on me when I had fallen asleep last night. Speaking of my host, I noticed that she was completely passed out on the kitchen table, an assortment of beer bottles and cans strewn around her.

Getting up stiffly and stretching out my tired limbs, I hurried over to her. She was snoring softly, still in the same torn and bloody clothes she was wearing yesterday. I poked her hard shoulder.

"Jade, wake up."

"Hrrmmnnnggghhh…" Jade swatted my hand and made more mumbling sounds.

_ Oh god, please tell me she's not hung over_. I didn't even want to count how many bottles spilled against the floor.

"Jade, come on. It's already like three o'clock past lunch. We need to get ready."

Suddenly, her brilliant blue eyes snapped open and she leaped off of the table, grabbing me around the throat and tackling me to the floor.

"Hggff! Ack! Whatareyoudoing?" I gasped, trying to force her arms off.

"Oops, sorry kiddo." She hauled me up and brushed the front of my shirt. "I'm not used to having visitors. Especially ones that try and wake me up."

"Oh really? I couldn't tell."

"Yes really." She ran a hand through her hair. "Okay, yeah it's kind of late, but we were up all night so that doesn't matter. Let's just get something to eat and then I'll take you to see André, I promise."

"Sure. The sooner the better."

Jade hobbled over to her fridge and opened it up, peering inside. "Whoops. I guess we'll have to go out. Must've forgotten to restock or something. Here, let me get changed first. Do you want to borrow a coat or something?"

"This is Florida. I'll be fine."

I waited there awkwardly, trying to ignore the heavy scents of alcohol. I wondered why Jade drank so much of it. There had to be a reason, because it was pretty expensive and she guzzled it down like it was water. I guess I'd have to ask her sometime.

Jade reappeared from her bedroom with a clean shirt and leather jacket. "Okay, kid. I'm buying so let's go."  
"I have a name, you know."

"Whatever, kid."

Rolling my eyes, I followed her outside to the elevators.

"So where are you from? You a local?" she asked, trying to make small talk.

"Well, I used to live here, but then my family moved to California."

"Oh really?" Her interest seemed to peak. "I used to live in Cal too. A long time ago. So what are you doing all the way out here again and this time without parental supervision?" We exited Hawthorn Lake and started down the already bustling, busy road.

"I came here looking for Trina," I said firmly.

"And what makes you think that she would be here?" Jade asked as we stopped outside of a colorful diner and she opened the door, motioning for me to go inside. It was unusually empty for the middle of the day and were led to a small booth by the window.

"We used to live here after all, so maybe I thought that I could get a sense of where she really might be if I snooped around a bit. Or maybe I would find some help, and look." I pointed at Jade, smiling gleefully.

"So where are your parents, then?"

"I…ran away. They weren't doing anything, so I took matters into my own hands. I wrote them a note and everything, promising that I'd be back whenever I did find Trina, so…"

"You really think that was a good idea? This world—everywhere—is filled with crazy-bum people who'd be interested in hurting little girls like you," Jade said. "Just like those drug dealers we met earlier. They were even calibers."

"Excuse me, but I'm not a little girl. I told you before and I'll tell you again: I'm seventeen. It was my senior year of high school, anyway. I'm sure it's fine to abandon one _last _year of education to go out and free your sister from a man who plans on gaining world domination."

"I was seventeen too when I moved out here by myself. And let me tell you, if I had a choice in that matter, I would've just stayed home, safe and sound. Don't underestimate what the world is capable of, kid, or you might end up in a terrible situation that could've been avoided in the first place."

We stopped talking after that as a waiter came by to take our orders.

I studied Jade's face when she was busy drinking her coffee with two sugars. Her expression was slightly remorseful; full of regret and unhappiness. Her eyes, heavily clouded with memories of the past, made me wonder what had really happened to her.

After our food came, I decided to focus on something else. The scenery outside was bright and happy. People walked by with dogs on leashes and skateboarders whizzed across the roads. The sun was beating down on everyone, the air conditioning of the restaurant on high now.

Jade was eating a fifth plate of pancakes, never slowing down as I struggled to finish my sandwich.

"Wow you have a really big appetite," I observed.

"Does it bother you?"

"No. I'm just saying." She did have some attitude problems, but it wasn't anything I couldn't put up with. And she was going to help me get Trina back, so I guess it was okay.

I was done eating, but she was still at it. There was a jingle as the diner's door opened and five people walked in. Jade snapped her head up in mid-bite and her jaw hung open when she saw them.

"What?" I hissed, noticing the look on her face.

"Oh crap. Let's go." She pulled two twenties out of her pocket and threw them onto the table. "Come on, Tori."

"What's wrong?" I asked, still confused.

"It's that gang from yesterday." She pulled me roughly from my seat.

_Oh, the ones that were about to kill you and would have if I hadn't come by and rescued you_? The fiends looked somewhat recognizable, but I wasn't for sure because it was dark and I was more concentrated on saving Jade.

On closer notice, I saw that all five of them were wearing extremely baggy clothes: pants sagging so low I thought they were going to trip, T-shirt that looked like dresses. Tattoos adorned their faces and gold and silver chains hung around their necks.

Jade held my collar and arm tightly and started dragging me in the opposite direction looking for an alternate exit.

"Is this how you act every time you see someone you tried to arrest?" I wondered loudly, ignoring the glances of other patrons, probably thinking that I was being kidnapped so I gave them an assuring thumbs-up.

"No. Because everyone I've tried to arrest actually ends up in jail and I never see them out in public again!"

One of the so-called gang members looked up and noticed us. His eyes drifted to Jade, and he snapped his fingers, getting his friends to stare too. Jade jerked to a halt when she noticed, obviously trying to formulate some plan.

Without another second to waste, Jade practically lifted me off the ground and started running towards the nearest door. I didn't fight her, hardly understanding what was happening. We came out in a back alley.

"We have to run, we have to run." Jade sounded panicked.

Following her lead, we ran in the most random direction I could possibly think of. She kept looking back and making sure that I was close behind, pausing to give me time to catch up if I lagged. This was so thrilling. We dodged through thick crowds, ran across sandy sidewalks and even started climbing up one of the fire escapes.

"Are you sure this is safe?" I asked, breathing heavily.

"No. Whatever you do, don't fall off."

_Great advice, thanks_.

We jumped down into the middle hall between two apartment buildings. Jade grabbed my arm, towing me along.

"André's lab is close. If we can get there before the gang finds us, then we'll be safe."

"Okay, so let's—"

As we turned to the right, there was someone already standing there.

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"Well, well, well, we meet again, isn't that right, girlie?" the figure said calmly.

"Don't call me that," Jade snarled, backing up into me.

We spun around the other way. There was another gang member standing there.

"_Crap_," Jade muttered. "What do you guys want? I won't turn you into the police…at least, not yet," she reasoned with them.

"We know." The man pressed his fingertips together.

"Then what do you want?" Moving her head slightly to face me, she whispered, "On the count of three, I need you to run down to the left." I nodded my head and grabbed her arm."

"We need to finish what we started."

"One…two…" Jade counted off. To the two members, she said, "And what would that be?"

"Killing you."

"Three!"

I ran forward, putting my hands in front of myself and trying to move the man with my powers. It worked. He went flying back a few feet, giving us a space to run through. Jade was hot on my heels as we went out into the open.

"Left, left!" she shouted.

My shoes skidded on the concrete as we made a mad dash in the open. People cursed at us angrily as we knocked into them and photo bombed their pictures. I don't think I've ever been more scared in my life.

"This is it!" Jade pointed to an old shop on the right. "The door to is André's underground space is in the alley."

_ Oh another alley? How wonderful_.

I led the way, looking up and down the moldy bricks for something that in any way might resemble an entrance. Placing my hands against the damp walls, I tried to find a switch or anything that might resemble a handle.

"Where is it?" I asked Jade.

"Keep looking! André made it hard to find on purpose!"

"Stop right there."

I turned around and came face-to-face with the muzzle of a sleek, black handgun.

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"Get on your knees and put your hands behind your head."

I did as I was told, going cross-eyed trying to keep the weapon in sight and biting my lip, trying not to show that I was terrified out of my mind.

"Don't touch her!" Jade shouted suddenly. There was a thud and she shut up.

"Aw, you finally made a friend, is that right?" the man doing the talking had Jade against the wall. "We were originally going to fill you up with bullets but maybe your friend might want to help take the load."

I whimpered when the gun pressed hard against my neck.

"Don't shoot her! Please don't," Jade begged. "You can do whatever you want with me; just don't hurt her."

_Whoa…Jade is trying to protect me…I need to do something_.

"How touching. A shame we'll have to kill you both anyway."

There was a click as the gun was loaded. Suddenly, I felt something nudge my foot. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jade had moved closer to me still on the wall, her boot next to mine.

"Stop moving, girlie, or I'll shoot."

"I'm not."

"We're here, boss!" I looked up and saw more people filing into the passageway. They were the rest of the gang we had seen in the diner. I gulped, fearing what would happen next as they got closer.

"Oh, ho-ho, you got a nice catch there, boss," someone commented.

"Shut up and let me work!" the man holding Jade snapped. He turned to her. "You're the Regenator, right? Hmm, you should be fun one to kill." He smashed the gun into her face and she fell over, a dark bruise appearing on her cheek.

"Jade!" I yelled.

The other members started laughing, honing in on us. Jade was blinking like she had no idea what just happened as the mark started to gain regular coloration and eventually disappeared.

The man lifted Jade to her feet, putting the shooter against her temple, smiling sickeningly. "Regenator or not, let's see if you can heal with six bullets in the thick skull of yours."

BAM!

My heart sank as I waited to hear Jade slump to the ground. It never came. Instead, the pressure on my neck was gone and someone pulled me to my feet. I could feel Jade's breath on my face. Her arms wrapped around me protectively in a bear hug.

_What's going on_?

"AHHHHH!" the man screamed, a clatter as he dropped his gun.

I turned my head in time to see him burst into a cloud of black smoke. Jade held me tighter as it cleared and the man was gone. There was another scream at the end of the alley, more smoke, and the figure had disappeared.

"What's happening?" I yelled as she pushed us against the nearest wall.

"I don't know, just don't move!"

The rest of the gang started running, only to be caught in their own individual swarms of black exhaust.

_We're next_.

There was a deadly silence all around us. I squeezed my eyes shut and buried my face in Jade's shoulder. Light footsteps echoed in the passageway and I could feel her tensing around me.

"Jade?" a smooth voice asked.

Jade lifted her head and turned us around. There was a man with dark skin standing there, a huge gray bazooka-thing in his hands, and he looked concerned.

"André!"

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**Aw Jade really does care about Tori huh? So adorable. XD**

**Feedback? ;)**


	6. Microchips and Machines

**So read this chapter closely, especially in the end! I just now realized that pretty much every other chapter had some form of action in it. Hmm...I'm going to need to change that right? **

**To SkyeVenomatic-no this isn't Jori romance. Just nice, adorable friendship between a 23-year-old and 17-year-old :)**

***7/6/12: Fixed the POV changes**

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CHAPTER 5  
Jade's POV

"André!" I said, terribly relieved and letting go of Tori. She clung tightly to the sleeves of my jacket, almost like she didn't want me to leave her. At least it told me that she was okay. "I don't think I've ever been this happy to see you."

"Hey, Jade." The twenty-year-old shouldered the large weapon and walked up to us, flashing a blinding smile. "Who's this?"

"Uh, Tori meet André, André meet Tori. She needs some help in a certain area of your expertise so I thought to bring her to you," I said, gently prying her clenched fingers off of my clothes. "I just didn't expect to run into so much trouble." I looked around where the gang members were once.

"You're welcome," André shrugged, a playful glint in his eyes. "Here. Let's go inside and explain to you what this is all about." He pointed to the new invention in his hand before leading us to the well-hidden door and pushing it open.

"So that's where it is. I always forget," I muttered as we stepped inside.

"Maybe you should and visit more often," he suggested.

"Don't push your luck, André."

He laughed. Tori, I could tell, was being very wary of my friend and was now holding onto my arm so firmly it was actually starting to go numb.

"Lighten up, kid," I told her as we entered the main room full of silver, blinking machines with countless buttons and switches on them. "André's not going to hurt you. And if he does, I'll snap his neck shortly afterwards."

She mumbled something I didn't quite catch.

André took us into his office, the only space that wasn't surrounded with loud technology. We sat down on his comfy leather couch and he sat behind his desk across from us.

"What's up, Jade?" he asked.

"I'll tell you once you explain where those gang members disappeared to with that thing," I pointed to the dangerous bazooka. "I mean, I'm really glad you rescued us, but I'm just curious where they are now."

"Oh, it's just one of my newest inventions."

"And?"

"Let's just say they'll be in a better place quite soon."

"Okay…" I said, knowing that this conversation was getting nowhere and Tori was beginning to get antsy next to me. "Well, this girl needs your help in tracking down a certain someone."

"Go on."

"Show 'im, kid." I patted her on the shoulder.

Tori cleared her throat like she was doing some sort of job interview. I grinned and leaned back on the nice couch, my hands locking behind my head comfortably.

"Um, well, I was wondering if you could help us track down Archelaus Patterstone," Tori started, pulling Trina's bracelet out of her pocket. "He took my sister and I promised my parents that I would get her back."

"No one's been able to find him since he came to power, you do realize that?"

"Yes. But I think this blood is his, and Jade said you could track things…" Tori glanced over at me. My eye blinked spastically and I leaned forward slightly. "I mean, if you can't and she was lying, then that's okay I guess—"

"I'm not a liar," I grumbled.

"No, no, I think I can do it. If that's really his blood." André held out his hand and she gingerly gave him the piece of jewelry, swallowing hard when he examined it. "Yeah. This should work. We'll go scan it into my locating machine and see where that puts us. Come on, ladies."

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Tori's POV

We shuffled out of the office back into the big, open room filled with whirring, buzzing pieces of equipment.

"You've been busy," Jade commented.

"Uh-huh," André agreed. He brought us over to a particular device that was in front of a gigantic monitor. Three keyboards with all sorts of symbols were attached to the surface, switches and buttons as well. Putting the bracelet on a flat piece of plastic, he slid it into the disc-like slot of a computer tower and sat down, starting to tap away.

"Is this even in English?" Jade asked, looking over his shoulder and eyeing the nonsense patterns.

"…Sure." André looked up at the big computer screen. We followed his gaze. "Okay, so right now I'm scanning the DNA from the blood on the bracelet. If it's readable enough, the machine will identify which person it is and then send the information up to my satellites I have in space. After that, they will be able to locate that person wherever they are in the world."

"Whoa, seriously?" Jade inquired, astonished. "How come no one's come to you before about this?"

"Well, for one, it's not really legal. The whole matching blood DNA to faces was from files I hacked out of the government. Two, not a single other person knows about this machine, mostly because it's still a prototype and if it gets in the wrong hands…you know…and three, no one has any samples to use in tracking Archelaus. Anything with a trace of him was destroyed when he took over Agency.

"I'm surprised Tori managed to find that little bit of blood, if it really is his. Usually his disciples are cleaning up the scenes to prevent people from retrieving evidence like that."

"I don't waste time," I said smugly.

"Hold on," Jade interrupted, "Why are we looking for Archelaus if we want to find your sister?"

"Because one, Trina is his right-hand girl, and wherever he is most likely she'll be too. And also, imagine how many more possibilities of taking him down we could have if we had _his _DNA."

"I told you before. I'm only in this to—"

"Looks like I got something," André said, his eyes still glued to the monitor. "It can't identify who the DNA belongs to. That means it's Archelaus's. Let's see if it can still track him, though."

Jade rubbed her nose, crossing her arms over her chest and refusing to look at me. My fingers drummed against my thigh in anticipation for the location of the caliber and possibly my sister.

On the screen came a small box, and after some clicking, a globe of Earth zoomed up. It started twirling back and forth rapidly as the satellites struggled to hone in on the person whose DNA matched the sample from the blood. Different parts of countries turned red or yellow, emanating rings from each site.

"How did you manage to even build something like this?" I asked, absolutely amazed at the powers of the machine.

"I'm an IQer. What else did you expect?" André replied complacently.

The sphere kept spinning, but finally it stopped on North America, red dots appearing all over the states at the most random locations, the whirring and beeping getting more frantic.

"Almost there," André said, and I crossed my fingers.

Suddenly, the noises stopped and there was a huge flag pinpointed on a state: New York. André fiddled with the joysticks and made the image bigger. The cities with their tall buildings became apparent, the street names popping up at us.

"New York, New York," Jade read, crinkling her eyebrows. "Yeah, kid. Your sister is _totally _here in Florida."

"Epic," I breathed.

"Yep. Wow, I can't believe that actually worked," André said, settling back, not able to keep the mile-wide grin of accomplishment off of his face.

"Ah, I've _always _wanted to go to New York," Jade said sarcastically.

"Come on, it'll be fun," I encouraged.

"And that's what they always say," she frowned.

"Hey, uh, if you guys are serious about going there, I think I have a something that could help you out," André said suddenly, getting up and gathering some materials from a nearby table. "I mean, if you want it."

"Sure. We're going to need all the help we can get," I replied, smiling. I liked this guy. He was very nice and sincere. And his voice was very calming.

"I've created these locator chips. I think that you two might need them if you're going after Archelaus especially. If you get lost or something, my satellites will be able to track you down wherever you are, and even monitor the state of your body, like pulse, internal temperature…all from right in this lab." He spun around and showed us the tiny squares in between his fingers.

"Monitor your body?" Jade was hesitant. "So that gives us absolutely no privacy in what we do?

"It's for the greater good," André replied smartly. "And anyway, I won't be watching it twenty-four-seven. If something bad happens, like you start losing lots of blood, I'll be alerted and that's when I'll come over to check it out."

"Hmm…okay, I guess. We'd be stupid not to say yes. So you're going to like microchip us? Like dogs?"

"Exactly."

Jade exhaled so loudly it sounded like a reverse snort. "Well, let's just get this over with then, I suppose. You owe me, kid." André forced her to sit down in a reclining chair, taking the thick brown straps and fastening them to her body.

"Hey, what're these for?" she complained, trying to fight against them.

"So you don't rip my head off," he answered, taking out a huge syringe-gun with what had to be a five-inch needle on the end. He swiped part of Jade's arm with a disinfectant pad. My stomach sunk and I thought I was going to be sick just looking at it. _Um, maybe this isn't such a good idea anymore_. "Because this obviously isn't going to be a walk in the park."

Without another word, André jabbed the point into the crook of Jade's elbow. She hissed but said nothing else.

"This is my first time doing this, so I kind of have no idea how to put this in the right position. Sorry," André apologized before digging the needle deeper and Jade started fidgeting. About three-and-a-half inches of the terrifying spike were now buried in her arm at a funny angle. André managed to force in another inch resulting in Jade letting out a yelp and finally he was satisfied, pushing the plunger.

The little chip inside the tube disappeared within seconds down the needle into Jade. He removed the syringe slowly.

"Thanks so much for taking your time with that," Jade growled. "Now will you please take these straps off of—"

"Wait…what's happening to your arm?" I said.

All three of us stared down. The small hole the needle had left had some blood oozing out; but now the gap was starting to grow. Jade made an annoyed huff in the back of her throat as more blood spilled out unnaturally fast. Suddenly, the tiny microchip popped out, sliding down her arm and stopping by her wrist.

"Well, that's what I was afraid of," André sighed, plucking it up with a tissue and trying to gently wipe off the fluid.

"Owww," Jade complained loudly, banging her head on the seat.

"I don't think that's going to work if you're healing power is just going to keep pushing it back out," André said. "We could try again if you want—"

"No!" she yelled unnecessarily loud.

"Fine. Let's do Tori until I can think of something for you. You aren't a Regenator too, are you, Tori?" I shook my head and he looked relieved as he let Jade out of the chair. She mimed smacking him in the head before I sat down when he went to retrieve a clean chip.

"What kind of caliber are you then?" André asked, testing the new syringe.

"A Kinecter."

"Very cool. That power can really come in handy if you know how to use it." I felt the cold swab against my arm and tensed up, looking the other direction. "Um, here we go in three…two…"

"Wait!" I started to go into panic mode.

"You'll be fine, kid," Jade assured, kneeling down next to me. "It's just like a pinch. Here, you can hold my hand if you want." She held out her grasp.

"Easy for you to say," I grumbled, scrunching my eyes at her. "You're used to that kind of thing, being a Regenator and—" My voice rose to an impossibly high pitch as André used the distraction to stab my arm with the needle. I grabbed Jade's outstretched palm, crushing her fingers as hard as I could.

"Almost done," André called as I was trying not to bite my tongue off. It felt like there was a pocketknife inside of me, twisting around and digging deep. I had no idea how Jade could put up with being attacked by several foot-long ones.

"No need to break my fingers," Jade said through her teeth but she didn't try and pull away even though I was probably seriously hurting her.

"Ta-da!" I felt the needle slide out of my skin and sighed in relief. Jade tried to make a fist when I let go and she stood up, shaking her head.

"All right, so come over here Jade. Tori, you just stay right there," André said.

Him and Jade went over to the giant computer screen again. André did some tapping, and suddenly there was painful twitch in my arm.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry. But see, now the satellites can track her location," André was telling Jade while pointing at the screen. "And, wow, Tori, you need to chill. Your heart might explode from how much its beating." Jade laughed and I glared at her from my seat.

"Great, so now you're our stalker. I'm so thrilled with that idea," Jade noted. "So how exactly are you going to get the chip in me?"

I saw André take out a fresh chip, picking up Jade's hand and putting it in her palm. A small, evil smile crossed his features.

"You need to swallow it."

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Trina's POV

I leaned back relaxingly in my fancy, thousand-dollar leather chair. Archelaus Patterstone was lying on his own, his head hanging over the edge.

"This is the life, isn't it, Trina?" he asked in that very seductive voice of his.

"Absolutely," I replied, reaching over and playing with his dark brown hair.

He chuckled and closed his eyes, his hands folding across his thin body.

Sometimes I wondered how someone like him could be so powerful. He wasn't very big and almost looked like a nerd with his glasses and buttoned up suits with ties. But all of the calibers feared him…and because I now worked for him…a lot of people were scared of me too and usually gave in to my demands. It was quite wonderful.

"When are we going to make our first move?" I asked him.

"Very soon, my dear. Very soon. I would like a few more IQers to increase our odds of winning, though," he replied softly.

Just then, there was a bang as the door's room opened, and one of Archelaus's cuter followers whose name I kept forgetting strode in, looking panicked and nervous.

"What is it, boy?" Archelaus sat straight up, shooing my hands away.

"It's Mr. Michael, sir," the boy bowed, not looking back up, giving me a nice view of his fluffy hair. On many occasions I tried to flirt with him, but a dark shadow would cross his eyes and he would never respond to any of my actions, almost like there was someone else he was looking for, but that couldn't be possible now that he was with us.

"What about Michael?"

Mr. Michael, as I called him, was in charge of a very important machine called Enkéfalos, something that Archelaus's life pretty much depended on. I thought it had one of the stupidest name in the world, but apparently it held some sort of great meaning that I could never figure out.

Enkéfalos, when properly operated, increased Mr. Michael's telepathic ability to track down calibers (and humans if he wanted) all over the world, even being able to listen to their thoughts from so far away. It was what we used to spy on everyone else and learn the whereabouts of new calibers Archelaus wanted for Rebellion.

The boy was shaking, not making contact with either of us. "Mr. Michael says that there are two girls. In Orlando, Florida, who have successfully traced you location, sir. They intend to come for Trina and if they have the chance, possibly take you down as well."

"You can look at me, uh, Beckly, is it?" Archelaus said, struggling to remember the boy's name. I listened closely.

"Beck." He lifted his head, quickly avoiding my gaze.

"Okay then, Beck. Inform everyone else that I, Trina and several others will be changing locations and starting a new base somewhere else." Archelaus snapped his fingers at the boy. "I want you to meet up with the girls and give them a lesson they won't forget, is that clear?"

"Do you mean termination, sir?"

"Of course!" Archelaus snapped. "What other lesson would you give them?" He rolled his eyes in disgust at how stupid Beck was acting. I raised an eyebrow at his sudden harshness.

Beck nodded, getting up and almost sprinting out of the room.

Archelaus turned to me, reaching up and smoothing his hair back calmly. "Do you have a preference on where we should be stationed next, Trina dear?" he asked. I thought about the question for a few moments. "Hollywood, California sounds like a nice place, doesn't it?"

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**'Fun' Fact: The Enkéfalos that Mr. Michael controls is based off of Cerebro used in X-Men. Even the names are the same...if you know what I mean. }:)**

**Aha! So if you noticed...Beck is not dead...yet...Or you might've already known that if you saw his silhoutte on the cover. I hope you all enjoyed it.**


	7. The Followers

**Thank you to Kittkatt11 and SkyeVenomatic for pointing out the POV error on the last chapter. Sorry about that, but I went back and fixed it now. :) Special dedication for this chapter to the both of you. :D**

**So hopefully this chapter isn't too boring or whatever. You kind of have to pay attention because information from here will pop up later.**

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CHAPTER 6  
Jade's POV

After André and Tori tied me to the chair and forced the microchip down my throat, she and I went back to my apartment to gather our things for the trip. I packed us a total of one luggage with stored a gun and knife (taken from criminals) to smuggle through security.

André gave us money for plane tickets, even though I did have enough from my job for the both of us. It struck me a little odd that he would offer, since as far as I knew, André did nothing besides sit in his lab all day long and refused to do anything more productive.

But it made me realize that he was really serious in thinking that we were actually going to take down Archelaus Patterstone, which I had to keep explaining was something I wasn't into doing, just to rescue Tori's sister. Nevertheless, it was a good thing to have an IQer helping us out.

The airport walk-through and plane ride to New York was very dull. We were fortunate enough to get the switchblade and single gun through security in our check-in baggage, so I thought of that as a bonus. I wanted to take a nap on the flight, but Tori would rather keep me awake with annoying, pointless questions about my life.

"So what school did you go to? I mean, you did go to high school, right?"

"Yes. I went to Hollywood Arts. It's an acting school. But I never really graduated; I dropped out my senior year, because of, uh…"

"What, what happened?"

"Archelaus happened. He came when I was spending some time in a beach house with some friends and attacked. I woke up in the middle of a forest and hitchhiked back home, where I found that my dad didn't give a care that I was possibly missing. So I ran out here knowing that if I stayed, the police would find and question me about what happened, which I couldn't remember anything about."

"Maybe he like, erased your memory," Tori suggested.

"Dunno," I sighed, shrugging my shoulders. "See kid? You should've have quit school and run away from your home. Look at what's happened to me. I couldn't get a decent job because no one wanted to hire the dropout and now I have to risk my life every night to make cash. Do you want that to happen to you too?"

"I just wanted to find Trina," she replied in a small voice. "I was going to go back once I had."

"You dream big, kid. And that's not always a good thing."

Tori had nothing more to say. She pulled a blanket over her head and stopped talking. I sighed, wondering exactly what I had gotten myself into.

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Once we arrived, I whipped out my PearPhone and tried to remember what street Archelaus's base was on. Tori insisted that we put our things in a hotel, but I had to remind her that we were only here for one reason, and I only brought one to make ourselves look less suspicious. We took a cab to the site.

"Are you really sure you can handle this, kid?" I asked, sitting next to her in the backseat.

"I'm just going to talk to him and be civil about it."

"This guy tears apart families and friendships, brainwashes people into thinking they're his soldiers, and you think he can be overcome by _reasoning_?" I said in pure astonishment.

"You can always overcome a human being by reasoning."

"He's not a human being, Tori. He's a caliber, like us, remember?"

"Same thing. He lives, he breathes; speaks the same language as us."

"Kid, whether or not Archelaus is nice, you still have to realize that he's planning to dominate the entire world at some point. I hope you either know how to defend your argument or be prepared to fight."

"Who said anything about fighting?"

I sighed, not bothering to argue with her anymore. She'd see for herself. This was not going to be as easy as she said…or at least hoped.

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The driver dropped us off at a hideous old building that looked like it had been abandoned for years. Wrinkling my nose in disgust, Tori paid him and I hauled the luggage out to the curb.

"This is it?" Tori asked doubtfully.

"Yes," I replied curtly, double-checking my PearPhone.

I could tell she was starting to have second thoughts, and obviously realizing she should've listened to me during the cab ride. "Uh, looks pretty scary from out here."

"So why don't we go inside?"

Expertly hiding our suitcase behind some garbage cans—not that it mattered if they got stolen since I had taken out the weapons—we headed inside the dilapidated building. Tori made me go first, staying close to my side.

"Here. You take the knife," I said, pressing it into her hands.

"Are you kidding? I don't know how to use this!" she hissed, trying to give me it back.

I rolled my eyes. "It's simple. You press the button; the blade side goes into your opponent's body. But don't let go or they can take it away and use it against you. Trust me. That happened once when I had a bread knife and I almost had to go to the hospital for getting it lodged in my head."

Tori's expression changed instantly from disbelief to sheer horror.

"Ha, I'm kidding. But it did go through a part of my body that I'd rather not talk about."

She shuddered and I laughed again. I didn't realize that it was actually quite amusing to make fun and scare people. Usually I would joke around to buy myself some time when capturing bad guys, but this was different; it was actually pretty cool.

We walked around the first floor carefully, trying to find some stairs that were at least intact to take us to the other floor, but there were none.

"Can you fly, kid?" I said to Tori.

"Are you serious?" she replied, almost panicked. "Of course not! I'm not that good!"

"Then how are we going to get to the top—"

"Lost, ladies?"

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I froze, looking around eagerly for the person who had just spoken in the calm, relaxing way yet at the same time was as terrifying as being cornered by a psychopath trying to trick you into coming inside his van.

"Who's there?" Tori hissed.

It was like being in some horror movie, when the heroine questions the antagonist in the kitchen as if they're just in the kitchen making a sandwich, not getting ready to kill them.

"That would be my question to you," the voice came again. It sounded slightly feminine. I reached behind myself, lifting up the hem of my shirt to grip the gun handle sticking out of the waistband of my jeans.

"What do you want?" It was my turn to speak.

"To know why you're here."

I decided to give in to avoid this back-and-forth questioning. "We're here to find Archelaus, if you know who that is." I narrowed my eyes, still searching for a form of a body, since their footsteps were echoing around us eerily.

"Ah, so you must be Jade West and Tori Vega, am I correct?"

Neither of us answered, too scared at how this person knew who we were.

"I'm going to take that as a yes. Archelaus warned us that you two would be looking for him. Fortunately, he's managed to get away ahead of time, so you just wasted your time coming down here."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I challenged, stepping forward in the darkness. Tori grabbed my arm in a warning way, but I shook her off. "Why don't you come out here and show your face, you coward?" I raised my fists, eyes darting around.

"I'm right in front of you."

Something hit me straight in the face and I toppled backwards, my legs getting tangled in piles of rotting wood. Tori made some weird whimpering noise I heard my phone crunch when my butt hit the ground, probably breaking it. _Oops. Can't get to __André now_…

Blinking furiously, I struggled to get up, looking around blindly. Something hit me again, this time on the back of my knees and I staggered forward, a terribly strong force smashing so hard into my head that I blacked out.

When I came to it, my nose was broken and so were about half of my teeth, only hanging on by pieces of skin and gums. Tori was trying to help me stand but I pushed her away for the second time. This was my fight, not hers.

"Is that all you got?" I spat viciously into the empty air.

"Nope."

CRRAACCKK!

A hand grabbed my wrist, twisting me over with such strength that it broke as I did a front-flip and landed solidly on the floor. I was briefly stunned, my head swimming dizzily and making shapes look blurry and almost liquid-like.

"What…was…that?!" I mumbled in disbelief.

"Not enough for you? My, my, maybe you are as violent as Archelaus said. No matter. We've got a very special treat for the both of you." My wrist bone popped back into place with a loud sound, but I remained sprawled across the floor. "Get up." I heard Tori scuffling around and raised my head, seeing her being lifted a few inches off the ground. "Come before I kill her."

"Who are you? What are you?" I demanded, standing slowly.

"One of Archelaus's followers, obviously. And yes. I am Cloaker, which is why you can't see me right now." Tori started being dragged away by the invisible woman, and I stumbled after them. A Cloaker was someone who could control their bodies to make them disappear completely. I ran into one once when I was looking for a bank robber; it was just as close to impossible to catch a force you couldn't see.

I followed Tori and the Cloaker to what seemed to be a door leading out to the back of the building. The air was thick and muggy; it was almost suffocating and hard to see. That's when I realized we were being herded into a small lot surrounded by the looming brick walls of nearby buildings, trapping us with no exit other than the way we came in, which was blocked by the Cloaker.

Tori was thrown forward and she crashed into my back. I spun and caught her before she hit the ground, and she straightened up, trembling and her eyes glazed with fear as she looked on at the figures walking towards us.

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The structure of the Cloaker was the most obvious and near; she was about my height with slightly more defined curves as the fog weaved around her body. I snorted, wondering how in the world she had managed to flip me over and break my wrist. I'm sure if I could see her, I could take her down in a heartbeat.

The other three people were wearing some sort of black spandex clothing, tight-fitting to their frames with blue linings a little 'A' on the right side of the chest that must've stood for only one thing: _Archelaus_.

I heard a pop next to me and noticed that Tori had opened the switchblade. _Good girl. Hopefully she won't actually have to use it but_…

"We didn't come to fight," I started to reason as they formed a half-circle around us, pushing us back into the cold walls.

"You must be very stupid then. No one comes looking for Archelaus unless they _want _to fight," a more masculine voice growled. "Of course, no one's ever managed to find him in the first place…"

"I know a guy," I informed.

"Oh really? How come he's not here then?" They inched nearer, still taunting. I whipped out the handgun from behind my back, pointing it at each person carefully, my finger resting on the loaded trigger.

"Don't push me," I almost whispered.

"Hmm, you might not want to do that, girl."

"Why not?" I questioned, angling the gun towards the one who I thought had spoken.

"Because of this." There was a snap of fingers and suddenly the gun was wrenched from my hands by an invisible force. The weapon floated in front of me for a few moments before turning around and pointing straight at my chest, clicking to confirm that I had filled it with bullets and left it loaded.

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**Dun dun dun! What's going to happen next? Find out in the next chapter!**

**And if any of you are curious as to where Robbie is, don't worry. He'll show up, just now is not his time. XD**


	8. Unrecognized

**Warning: This chapter is pretty violent. And possibly confusing, but it will be fully explained eventually. ;)**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed! **

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CHAPTER 7  
Jade's POV

I caught a glance of Tori hiding the knife behind herself, and I gave her a little nod, putting my hands up in an awkward surrender of being threatened with my own gun. "Umm…"

"Yes, you'd better watch out for that one. She's a Regenator, I believe, and got a very sassy attitude," the Cloaker's voice came. "But I'm not sure about the little one."

"I'm not little!" Tori said indignantly.

"Shush," I reprimanded.

"We're quite impressed you're 'guy' was so accurate in the location," another calm voice said. "But unfortunately, Archelaus is no longer here because you couldn't keep the information to yourself."

_How can he not be here anymore? Then who are these people_?

"Yes, to answer your question, we are indeed his followers, simply left behind to deal with you two. I can tell from that stupid expression on your face," a man with a warm tone said like he could read my mind.

"We're not here to fight. We just need to talk, right, Tori?" I said, but the girl was practically shaking in her boots. I was finding it hard to think when the gun kept cocking itself and Tori was acting like we were about to die, which I wouldn't let happen at any cost.

"Archelaus has no time to talk. He's busy trying to take over the—" the person was cut off as someone smacked him sharply in the head to keep him from giving us too much knowledge.

"Come on you guys, let's get this done."

Their faces become visible as they were only a few feet from us. Four of them in total, two boys and two girls, the Cloaker having made her appearance known. One of them had his hand out in front of him, most likely the Kinecter who was keeping me still with the floating gun.

There was a blonde chick with blue eyes that almost matched mine. The Cloaker had brown hair and an evil grin set on her lips. The boys were relatively handsome, something I felt bad about feeling in the heat of the moment. The Kinecter had a black buzz-cut, with his ears and left eyebrow pierced, like mine.

However, it the last boy that really caught my expression. He had a fluffy hairstyle and olive skin, his expression looking more forced than natural. I avoided his darting gaze as it ran across my body, and then he shoved his hand into a pocket, facial features becoming almost agitated now.

"We applaud you for getting this far, and Archelaus sends his regards."

"Where's my sister?" Tori interrupted.

"Sister? What do you mean?"

"Trina Vega. She's my sister Archelaus took a while back," Tori argued.

"Ah, Trina. No, she doesn't have a sister. You must be mistaking her for someone else." The boy with the nice hair looked at the ground hard, his chocolate eyes full of guilt.

I was so drawn to him, yet had no idea why. He resembled no one that I could remember, and in all honesty, seemed like the legit most dangerous follower here.

Tori was trying to hold back tears and I wanted to go over to her, but every movement I made the gun would twitch, and I didn't want to risk that. Not yet, at least. Sure I could heal, but I was going to avoid getting shot at all cost since it was the most physically painful thing I've ever experienced so far.

Suddenly, her head snapped up. She put her hands out towards the gun and she started to use her power. I was impressed. She had told me she sucked, and of course believed her, but this was quite amazing.

Slowly, the gun turned and faced the four Archelaus followers. Even the Kinecter looked surprised, and easing on his own focus to watch Tori's level of control.

But then she did the unexpected.

And pulled the trigger.

BAM!

I wasn't sure, but I think that Kinecters, if trained well enough, could stop bullets in midair. However, this one must've either been too shocked or not strong enough because the chunk of lead ripped right into his leg.

He screamed in agony, falling backwards, clutching the bloody appendage.

Cheering silently, I let my guard down for just a few seconds to bask in the glory of proving them wrong. But then I stopped short, my logical mind coming back to me.

And the remaining followers charged all at once.

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Tori's POV

I had no idea what just happened. Unable to contain my anger and frustration, I turned the gun pointing at Jade towards the bad guys. Then I pulled the trigger, knowing fully well that it was loaded.

I was surprised that I actually managed to hit someone.

But then they all came forward to attack us.

In the shock, I dropped the gun and it fell with another bang, starting to go off automatically. I ducked down and covered my head, my left hand reaching back and holding tightly onto the open switchblade.

The remaining boy and the Cloaker went for Jade, while the blonde came for me. I pulled the knife out and held it in the open, showing the woman that I had a weapon and was not afraid to use it.

She cloned herself into two identical twins, and I knew she had to be a Bilocater. Confused as to which one I should attack, I swung the weapon wildly, backing up until I hit the wall and crouching down.

One of them caught my wrist, but not after I had stabbed them deep in the middle of their arm. The figure twitched, not even bothering with the knife before forcing my limbs behind my back.

The real woman came to the front, and I looked up at her. She slapped me, my head twisting to the side, my cheek burning fiercely. I faced my opponent, spitting on her shoes and her fist smashed into my stomach.

Blood spurted out of my mouth like a sudden fire hose and tears appeared in the corners of my eyes. I couldn't even remember where I was or even think straight as she kept punching me over and over. I wanted to throw up, but the only she didn't stop to give me the time to.

I felt a sharp pressure on the back of my shoulder that could only be one thing: the switchblade. I had let them take it away from me, and now they were going to kill me with it. Jade should've listened to me when I told her I wouldn't be able to handle a weapon.

My mind drifted away before I had the chance to see if I really got stabbed or not.

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Jade's POV

"Are you sure you really want to fight me?" I asked as the Cloaker disappeared and the other boy ran like a bull. "All right, I guess you are then. Don't tell me I didn't warn—OOOFF!"

The Cloaker barreled right into my stomach and I flew back, my head cracking when it hit the ground. Stars and black clouded my vision, and I heard the boy screaming at her.

"Let me have her! I got this."

Footsteps echoed by my ears, the Cloaker was listening to him. Pretty Boy knelt down on my shoulders, pressing me deep into the concrete and keeping my arms pinned.

I saw the glint of something shiny as he pulled his right fist back before swinging it into my jaw.

CRUNCH.

I heard the bone snap out of its socket, blood dripping from my lips and nose almost immediately. The whole world seemed to be on fire just from one simple punch. I didn't realize someone was so capable of having that much power.

That's when I noticed the metal rings covering his fingers, enhancing the force without breaking his hand. Of course, that wasn't very good news for my face.

On the third punch, he had successfully crushed my nose into smithereens, and my teeth had become a jumbled mass of fragmented bone. I tried to spit them in his face, but he slapped me away, smearing my blood on his fingers, which he wiped on my shirt rudely.

I was hardly aware of my surroundings at this point, the only thing my mind was focused on was that my entire head was breaking. Every time his brass knuckles connected with my face it rebounded into the ground with a dull crack. I could only take a few more hits before it really broke and you would have my brain falling right out of my head.

Drool wouldn't stop running down my chin as I lost control of my body. I was too weak to buck him off of my body, so I lay there helplessly, my fingers twitching, longing to strangle the boy to death.

My nose was clogged with blood, running down the sides of my face into my ears and staining my hair. His rings had cut gashes into my skin, pain radiating from each one.

Just when I thought he was going to deliver the final blow, he paused for a short moment, and I forced myself to look up at him with my swollen eyes.

My blood was spattered sickly across the front of his shirt and his fist was raised in motion. I noticed his thick eyebrows, contorted like he was upset; almost even frightened. His lips were curved back into a pathetic scowl.

And then our eyes locked onto each others'.

I felt a twinge in my temple and saw that he suddenly grabbed his own, jumping off of me and crawling backwards. I tried to sit up, moaning when the intense, almost unbearable pain rushed through my head. Collapsing back on the ground, I grabbed my aching skull with my hands as if I could stop the pain that way.

The boy was crouched on his knees, continued looking at me like I was a goddess or something. He glanced at his fists covered with my blood and shock covered his features. He mouthed something I couldn't see and reached into his pocket yet again, looking horrified yet relieved.

I stood up using the wall for support, wiping my face with the back of my hand, ruining my sleeve with ruby streaks and blobs of saliva.

"Beck! What are you doing? Finish her off!" the Bilocater beating up Tori had a knife to her shoulder and the Cloaker was visible, stepping on her arms, and I was sure that they would break.

'Beck' had his mouth wide open, unable to respond.

Stupidly, I ran towards the others, throwing them apart. Tori was unconscious as I scooped her up, staggering under her light weight, my head in so much pain I couldn't think straight. I elbowed the Cloaker in the temple, knocking her out and running in the direction that looked like an exit.

"They're getting away!" the Bilocater screamed.

"Let them," the boy named Beck said. "I think they learned their lesson."

"Archelaus said to kill, and you obviously don't know the meaning of that word." I heard her scrambling on the concrete for something, but I was too absorbed to look back, trying to properly hold Tori without hurting her or myself.

BOOM!

I felt the sharp, searing pain in the back of my right knee. Lurching forward, I dropped Tori to reach down and grab my leg, the warm blood seeping through the thin fabric of the jeans I was wearing. Tears spilled down my face and I bit my lip to keep from screaming.

Fighting against the pulsing, vicious agony I went to stand, my leg buckling at there was another shot of _my _gun.

Naturally, I got hit again.

This was turning out to be a great day.

The bullet tore through my lower back and exited out the front. My head whiplashed back as I fell in slow motion. Air whistled past my ears, salty water stinging my face.

Tori's unconscious body was lying next to me, and I reached out painfully to pull her closer, putting my head on hers comfortingly, sniffing loudly and stroking her brown hair.

_I'm sorry, kid. I failed and now we're both going to die_.

The gun reloaded and I knew it was aiming to properly kill this time. Then, there was the sound of shuffling behind me, but I didn't have the strength to turn around.

"RUN JADE!" That was the voice of the boy who had ruthlessly beat up my face like a piece of meat.

Not even bothering to think how he could've learned my name, a new surge of energy coursed through my body, wiping out my feelings for pain. I picked up Tori in my arms, my breathing labored as I limped severely from the scene.

I got out to the street, looking desperately for someone to help me. An older man noticed and stopped.

"Help," I croaked, my voice starting to fade as I felt my body beginning to heal. Although that would normally be great, it meant that my nerves were starting to come back together and I started to feel the unbearable pain again in my side and knee. I heard a pop as my jaw went back into its socket.

The man took Tori from my arms gently.

"Help her," I begged, staring at him with bloodshot eyes, my teeth grinding against each other loudly.

"It's okay, Miss, I've got her," he assured.

I tried to say more, but the pain was too much and took me away into the welcoming darkness.

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**...So what just happened? Especially there with Beck and Jade? Answers coming soon! :D**

**And yes. I understand that my chapter names are super, super, lame. When the story is finished or sooner I will go and make them sound cooler. :)**

**l**

**V**


	9. Trigger

**The moment you've all been waiting for! Ever since you read the summary!**

**Thanks to the reviews from: Guest, Kittkatt11, LizGfan25, heythere and especially BelletheWickedWitch for every single one of yours! Yeah this story does have a lot of 'scenes' from the X-Men series, and you'll find another one in here. :)**

**Hopefully you are all enjoying this so far.**

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CHAPTER 8  
Jade's POV

_Beep…beep…beep…_

I felt a rush of cold air against my body. Then something icy and hard pressed against the side of my belly.

"Are you kidding? I don't see a single bullet wound anywhere! Is this a joke?" a dark voice came.

"Check her right knee too. Apparently that's what the gentleman said."

Fingers prodded at my kneecap, massaging the bone around uncomfortably.

"Nope. Nothing. And her face is fine too. So where did all the blood come from? Unless it's not hers…"

My eyes snapped open. There were three doctors in green scrubs standing above me. I sat up, ignoring the hands trying to push me back down. I realized that my jacket was gone and shirt had been completely cut open; my right pant leg up to the middle of my thigh was gone too.

"What happened?" I said, trying to get off the little table I was on and remember the past events.

"Miss, please lie back down," they tried to tell me.

"Where's Tori? How did I get here?" I shoved past them and stood on my feet, almost falling over but quickly regaining my balance. I felt perfectly fine, something opposite of earlier…whenever that was.

I tottered over to the door, my clothes practically falling off, they were so shredded.

"Miss, stop!"

I grabbed the handle, trying to open it. Just then, I felt something sharp stick itself in my left shoulder. Growling, I reached over and ripped out the object. It was a small syringe, probably filled with a sedative or something. But my healing power kept me awake and I opened up the door as another one hit me in the back of my neck.

_It's going to take a lot more than two_, I thought wistfully.

Someone dove on the floor, wrapping their arms around my legs and I fell right through the door, landing on my stomach. More people landed on top of me, and I felt a huge needle shoved between my shoulder blades. The doctor shot enough tranquilizer into my system to put down an angry grizzly bear, and I finally passed out.

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When I woke up for the second time, I was alone in the same room, but this time without my clothes and instead one of those hideous hospital gowns that barely covered anything. I tried to get up, suddenly noticing the straps holding me to the bed.

_Wow...this is pathetic_.

I bunched my muscles and tore out of the restraints like they were made of paper, rolling over the edge and landing on my face. Struggling up on my arms, my legs were weak and wobbly as I stood slowly.

It took me a while to gain my balance, testing my weight on my knee and flexing my back. My head felt whole again, and I poked my nose and ran a finger over my teeth. Everything seemed to be in place and working well. I had never been damaged that much in my entire life, and didn't want it to happen again.

But first I needed to get some decent clothes and find Tori. Then I could explain what was going on in my mind, and tell her that this quest was obviously too much for her, even me, and she should just accept the fact that her sister was never coming back. Cruel, I know, but that's the way life worked.

I went up to the door, looking out the foot long, six-inch-wide window. The hall was completely empty, so I crouched down slightly, waiting for a woman to walk by so I could steal her clothes.

A guest came around the corner, and I swung the door open, hitting them full in the face and they were immediately knocked unconscious. I dragged the body inside and swapped our attire and putting her on the bed.

The clothes were uncomfortably tight on me, and I fought the urge to continuously pull my pants down. Spotting the front desk, I walked right up and tried to remain as calm as possible.

"I'm here to see Tori Vega," I told the receptionist.

"What is your relation to her?" she asked, tapping on the computer.

"Yes. I am her worrying mom whose been looking for her for a while now. I should sue you for not calling me any sooner," I said, trying to make myself look threatening.

"Oh, all right. She's in room T-487. Fill out these forms, ma'am, and you can go." The receptionist handed me a thick stack of papers clipped to a board. I did not accept them, starting to walk in the direction of the rooms. "Excuse me! You need to fill these out!"

"Later, I want to see my daughter."

Roaming around like a lost puppy, I dodged behind doors and water fountains when doctors or nurses came by. Finally I found Room T-487, and gave a hurried knock.

"Tori? Tori, it's Jade."

Without waiting for a response, I pushed the door open. Tori was sitting upright in the white bed, her face half-bandaged and a similar gown I had worn earlier.

"Jade!" Her face lit up.

"Hey, kid," I said, shutting the door firmly and walking to her side. "How are you doing?"

"Okay, I guess. Doc just came in to give me some more painkillers."

"Uh-huh."

"I mean, it still feels like I got trampled by a bull or something, but…you know. It must be nice for you, knowing that you can heal from any physical defect and would hardly look any older." She frowned slightly and I opened my mouth to say something but she interrupted with, "So how did you manage to get us out of there? Someone said that you were shot twice yet you still carried me away…"

"Yes, you're very welcome." I pointed at my stomach and leg. "I'm seriously surprised we didn't die. Had a very, _very _close call, mind you. If it weren't for the boy who was trying to kill me, I'm sure we would be dead."

"Who?"

"The guy who was pounding my face to shreds made eye contact with me, and then he stopped, which gave me time to rescue you. Unfortunately I got shot twice while running away, but he said, 'Run Jade' and bought me some time."

"Do you know him?"

"As far as I could tell, nope."

"Hmm, I didn't think it was going to be that dangerous."

"I warned you." My voice suddenly got cold, something I hadn't intended to happen. "I told you something like that was going to happen, and it did. In all honesty, I hate to say it, kid, but I think you should just give up. This is obviously too much for you, and me, even."

"Learn from your mistakes," Tori shot back.

"Keep this up and you won't live very long to make any more." I didn't want to argue, especially when she was all laid up in bed, but I needed to make this point. I came into this, hoping that she would have even a vague idea of how to get Trina back and I would just be like her guardian angel, but it was clear now that she expected a lot more than I could give.

Neither of us were ready for the adventure waiting. I stood up, getting ready to break the news to her. Once she was clear of the hospital, I'd bring her back down to California myself and make sure her parents knew exactly what she'd been trying to do.

"Jade?" Tori asked in a small voice.

"What?"

"I'm sorry you got hurt. And I'm sorry for dragging you into this," she started to apologize. "I…I should've known that this wasn't going to work out. No one wants to follow through like I do." I narrowed my eyes, more out of confusion than anger, though. "So can I give you this before you leave, because you're the only person so far who's even helped me actually make a first move?"

"Uh, okay."

Tori's hands went up to her neck, her fingers pulling apart the chain to her silver dog tag necklace. I felt a force grab my arm, forcing it palm up in front of me. Perplexed, I watched as the necklace gently floated over, hovering above my pale skin.

"Are you doing that?" I asked.

She nodded, letting it fall.

As soon as the cold metal touched me, I collapsed, a huge migraine spreading in my head. Color flashed in front of my eyes even though there was nothing colorful in the room. I started shaking violently, my facing banging against the floor.

Then everything went black.

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Tori's POV

I always wore the chain-necklace; it was like some sort of good luck charm to me. One of the tags had the engraving of my name, and the other was blank, which I always planned on putting the name of someone special there. But right now, I think this was more important than a boyfriend.

Jade saved my life when she could've been killed herself. It was a risk that I doubt most people would take for me. Just the other day we were treating each other like strangers, but now we were slowly starting to become friends.

Wanting to impress her a little, I used my Kinecter power and moved her hand up. Looking as baffled as a puppy, Jade remained still, and I dropped the dog tags in front of me, holding them in midair.

I pushed them forward until they hovered over her open palm.

"Are you doing that?"

Nodding, I dropped it gently into her hand. Before she could get a good grip, she fell to the floor, grabbing her head and shaking spastically. It looked like she was possessed by some sort of demon.

"Jade?" I sat straight up, ignoring the stab of pain in my side and looked down at her. She was having a full-body seizure now, and I didn't know whether to call a nurse or not, so I just waited for a few moments.

Sure enough, she stopped trembling and got up, blinking furiously and looking stunned almost. Then, scratching her head, she glanced over at me, and my heart beat faster. Her normally blue eyes were dark red and demon-like.

"Uhh…" If I wasn't confined to my bed I would've gotten off and run away in fear. "Are you okay, Jade?" I repeated.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and opened them again, the pupils now returning to their normal icy color.

"I understand now."

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Jade's POV

I found myself swimming in a dark pool of my mind. Flashes and images of my life floated around me. Except it wasn't any of the 'better' memories I've had, only specific ones with two special people.

Beck Oliver.

My boyfriend.

Cat Valentine.

My best friend.

I remembered exactly what happened that night, six years ago. Why I woke up in the forest and had no idea how I had gotten there, remembering being in a beach house by myself that was attacked by Rebellion, and I had managed to escape safely.

No. Beck triggered me and probably put me out there himself, I just didn't remember.

That was why, for so long, I felt lost and confused about the friends I had made in California. Beck and Cat were my only ones, but since my memories about them had been hidden, it felt like there was a part of my life missing and I couldn't recall why.

My chest seized up and I stopped breathing.

Emotions started pouring back into my heart, of loving them and caring for them, something I didn't do for many people. The feelings filled me up like a bottle, and I stopped twitching, finally understanding some things in the least.

Outside the beach house, I now recalled Beck saying that there was going to be a girl who would give me a necklace of some sort. That girl was Tori. Her dog tags were the necklace.

And because of her, I now remembered.

Beck was alive. He was the boy who almost knocked me brain-dead when we tried to find Archelaus. That was probably why I found him so attractive in such a dire situation. Beck must've done something to himself too, because I know that as annoying as I can be, he would never really try and hurt me, especially not that badly. He possibly triggered his own mind, and that was why he didn't really recognize me until we made eye contact, which could've been his 'trigger,' like Tori's necklace was mine.

And Cat.

I didn't see her when we fought the followers. Maybe she was with Archelaus himself, wherever they were. I was worried for her. The very last thing I can remember of her was hearing a scream, and Beck told me that he thought they had already taken her. My heart started throbbing.

But I knew now that I had to help Tori get her sister back, once and for all. I wouldn't remember this important part of my life if it hadn't been for her. Plus, I could also assist in stopping Archelaus himself, which was something I knew she really wanted. I had the perfect reason to do so; my boyfriend was with him.

The tide of emotions settled down, and I was brought back to the present.

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"Are you okay, Jade?"

I suddenly realized I was standing next to Tori's bed, my hand with the dog tags dangling by my side. I glanced at the necklace, then at her.

"I understand now."

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**KA-BAM! Yes? No? Tell me! :D**

**I also have a new poll on my profile asking which story you guys think I should write next. If you want to know what each choice is about, just keep scrolling down and I have the info there. **

**See you all next time! **


	10. Worth It?

**Do you guys feel like this story is lacking anything? I don't know. I just don't think this is 'as good as it could be.'**

**Special thanks to: heythere, Shaelyn McTier, NeonLovesYou, Kittkatt11, and BelletheWickedWitch. :)**

**By the way, go to my profile and vote for what pairing I should write about next!**

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CHAPTER 9  
Jade's POV

Tori was giving me a stupid look that was almost adorable.

"I…I don't get it. What exactly do you understand now?"

"The boy who at first was trying to kill me but suddenly stopped and ended up saving our lives. His name is Beck." I tried to keep the emotions under control but started to fail. "He was—_is _my boyfriend as of six years ago. Kid, it all makes sense now!"

"What does?"

I grabbed Tori by the shoulders and she winced.

"Why the past six years have seemed so weird for me. I didn't remember my boyfriend or my best friend, and that's why it felt like I didn't have any friends—it was just because I couldn't remember them!"

I let go of Tori, staggering back.

I remembered Beck. And he must've remembered me, too. Unfortunately a little bit late and my face suffered dearly from it, but it didn't matter. He had survived the run-in with Archelaus, and that's all that mattered to me.

"Does this mean you're still going to abandon me?"

"Absolutely not, kid. We need to go and rescue him. I mean, if he's still alive even after what just happened." My heart twisted when I realized that Archelaus was probably not going to like that he had let us go. "And yes. If we get the chance to take down that caliber, we're taking it, all right?"

"You mean it?" Tori's eyes lit up like I've never seen before. "But earlier, you—"

"Yes I know what I said then, but listen to me now, okay?"

Maybe we had met in that alley for a reason. Maybe those lonesome six years were actually going to pay off one day. I met Tori, experienced a failed mission, grew some serious doubt, and now I remembered my once-forgotten past.

Beck.

I had to do this for Beck. I had so many questions for him, and longed to see his face, now that I would at least recognize it. Glancing up at Tori's hopeful expression, I gave her something akin to a smile.

"Once you're out of here, we'll go and kick some Archelaus butt. How does that sound?"

"Terrific."

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I left Tori in the hospital, promising to return soon while I found a decent hotel to stay in for the mean time. I marched up to my room with a bag of better-fitting clothes and lay down on the white bed after changing, scrapping the old ones. Using the fancy telephone, I dialed up André as fast as I could.

"Hello?"

"André!" I nearly shouted, sitting up with excitement.

"Jade! Hey, what happened to you guys? Yesterday I was watching your guys' stats and all the pulses and temperatures were really spiked. Did you find Archelaus? Because I double-checked with the DNA and it said he moved to—" André rambled.

"Hold on, hold on, _hold on_. One question at a time."

"Did you actually see Archelaus? And what exactly happened?"

"No. We did not. I have no idea how, but he knew we were coming after him and left some of his followers to 'deal' with us before he got away himself."

"I knew it! How did you do then? I mean, obviously you survived, but after looking at the readings, I'm quite surprised you did—"

** "**Um…" I paused, crushing my tongue between my teeth.

"Jade? Dang it, I knew I should've sent Robbie!"

_Who the heck is Robbie? What is he_ _talking about_?

"There were four followers there: a Cloaker, Kinecter, Bilocater, and a Trigger." I sighed when I told him Beck's caliber power, still remembering the day he had used it on me.

"They split up to kill us but we fought back, but then almost lost because they got ahold of my gun and shot me twice. But luckily, I received some unexpected help and we escaped before it was too late. Tori's in the hospital right now—by the way, the bill is being sent to you—and I'm going to hang out here until she gets better so we can come back to Florida."

"Aw, geez. I'm sorry, Jade. Seriously."

"Yeah, you better be. I expect a sixteen-page apology from you when we get back. So where is Archelaus now?"

"Hollywood, California. I tried to call you guys, but your phone wasn't connecting to mine."

"Yeah, I kind of broke it. I'm using the hotel's."

"Do that mean I need to pay for a new one too?" he joked, but I didn't laugh. André quickly caught on and said, "It was actually kind of interesting what was happening to the both of you. Tori went into like, a panic mode, I guess when she kept getting hit in the stomach, and your face was like…" he paused for a dramatic effect, "I thought you were dead! It was all dented, and your nose was practically flat, and your teeth—"

"Wonderful," I said, rolling my eyes and not wanting him to go into more detail.

"It was kind of cool; I could see blood squirting out of your mout—"

"No. Just no. I want you to tell me how in the world we're going to sneak up on Archelaus if he's stalking our every move."

"Well, just yesterday another caliber came to me, because he saw you guys fighting that gang in the alley from his apartment window earlier this week, and he wanted to know if you were both okay."

"And?"

"His name is Robbie Shapiro and he's a Dimensioner."

"Okay pal, you'd better keep talking, because I have no idea what that is."

"A Dimensioner is someone who can 'jump' to other 'dimensions.' In other words, he can teleport to anywhere on Earth."

"Teleportation? Sounds cool enough."

"Exactly. I thought that maybe he could bring you guys to Archelaus's exact location without having to spend hours on a plane, which will at least speed up the process a little and give him less time to escape. I guarantee Archelaus has one of his own Dimensioners, but that's a different story for now," André said.

"Okay. When Tori and I return to Orlando, we'll meet up with that Robbie kid, you figure out where Archelaus is, and he'll take us to him and _only _him. Then we can get our friends back."

"Friends? I thought it was only Tori's sister."

"Apparently my boyfriend, who triggered me into forgetting him and my best friend six years ago, is also with Archelaus. He was the one who saved our lives by stopping the Cloaker from shooting me."

"You…you have a boyfriend?" André sounded almost disappointed.

"Yes, I do now. That is, if we can get to him before Archelaus kills him or something."

There was a pause on the other line.

"André?"

"Yeah. I'm right here. All right, I'd better get to work then. You have enough money for the hotel and stuff?"

"You really need to stop worrying about me. I am three years older than you and also have a 'legit' job," I smiled coyly, even though he couldn't see me. "By the way, how _do_ you have so much money if you spend all your time locked up in that hidden lab?" I added, genuinely interested for once.

"The joys of copying machines, my friend."

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Beck's POV

_Jade West_.

I couldn't get the name out of my head.

_Jade West_.

My girlfriend. From six years ago. That was the last time I saw her, when Archelaus came for the first time. I triggered her and brought her out in the forest by the beach house and then went back to find Cat Valentine. Which I never did.

It hurt me more than I could stand that I had failed to rescue the adorable little redhead. I prayed to God every day that she wasn't dead and that maybe she had also escaped, but that was already a long shot on its own. The only reason Jade survived was because Archelaus hadn't even planned on recruiting her. It was Cat and me he wanted.

Every day I had to live with the guilt, but at least I didn't remember Jade. I would've committed suicide if I had known what I'd done to her.

The first time I got to Archelaus's base I put a trigger on my own mind. I looked into the mirror in my room and forced myself to forget about my beautiful girlfriend. I did it to protect her, and save me the grief. If Archelaus ever found out my relation to Jade, he could ask and torture me for the information, but I wouldn't be able to give it to him, no matter how much I wanted to, simply because I wouldn't _remember_.

That is, until my trigger object was found.

And it was.

Yesterday.

Jade West was my trigger. Her actual eyeball, to be exact. The brilliant shade of blue, contrasting sharply with the white background, framed by a set of dark brown eyelashes. When I saw it, I would remember.

I did have a picture of her the entire time, however. It was the one Cat had taken of us on the beach six years ago. I would spend my free time looking at it carefully, trying to figure out the identity of the happy girl was.

But then when I saw Jade in person, I didn't recognize her _at all_, mostly because of her facial expression. She was looked frightened, furious, upset and hurt all at the same, no trace of contentment. Not once did it occur to me that she could've been the same person.

I was angry at myself for almost beating her to death. The worst part was that I didn't know how I would get back to her, since I was bonded to being with Archelaus. Plus, it was obvious she didn't recognize me, meaning that her trigger hadn't been unlocked yet and she wouldn't understand a thing I said to her anyway.

Even though I saved her life, I had a feeling that I was going to pay dearly for it. But that didn't matter. As long as her and the other girl were alive, everything would work according to Cat's plan. There was nothing it in that said _I _had to live for it to fully happen.

After I was forced to take Fancy the Bilocater down from shooting Jade anymore and they made their escape, she had gotten up, slapped me in the face several times and then spit on me. The she shouted at me to pick up our unconscious comrades.

"Springer's coming to get us," Fancy told me as I threw the Kinecter over my other shoulder, my knees threatening to give out under the weight of his and the Cloaker's bodies. "And when we see Archelaus and he asks why those girls got away, I'll let him know _exactly _whose fault it was. What the heck is wrong with you, Beck?"

Her hand smacked the back of my head hard, and I staggered forward, struggling to maintain my balance. Fancy's angelic face was dangerously close to mine, her breath hot and humid.

"You listen to me, Oliver. That's the last stunt you'll ever pull around here. Can't you follow the simplest of orders? And don't tell me you felt bad. You've killed people before. What difference does two girls make?"

_They are the key to bringing this stupid Rebellion down_, I thought wryly but said nothing.

Just then, the lanky, always-looking-like-he's-intoxicated Dimensioner Springer appeared in a cloud of dark blue smoke, his feet tripping over each other as he made his way towards us.

"Hey-lo, kiddies. Time to go to the 'Wood, Cali-for-neea?" he stretched out the word much longer than necessary, swaying around like a drunk sailor. "What'a happened here?"

"Ask Beck," Fancy seethed.

"Nah, I'd rather stay outta it," he said, latching onto my arm with a greasy hand. I made adjusted the bodies on my shoulders, making sure we had contact somewhere so when Springer teleported we would all be intact.

There was a boom. The air around me squeezed my chest so tightly I couldn't breathe. Within seconds, we expanded and I felt solid ground beneath my feet. Blue smoke rose around us, and after a few second it cleared and I saw the looming building that was Archelaus's new base.

Shuffling ahead, I grabbed the two bodies and starting dragging them along as Fancy and Springer led the way, walking nearly twice as fast as usual on purpose so I would lag.

"Where is he, Springer?" Fancy asked once we entered in the huge foyer, the ceiling almost twenty feet high.

"Right here," came the chilling voice of Archelaus himself.

I turned around slowly. Archelaus had his favorite caliber, Trina, standing right next to him. Trina was looking at me, quirking her eyebrows flirtatiously and licking her lips. I tried to ignore her, knowing that I was Jade's, at least, once she remembered and _if _she accepted me back after what I'd done.

"What is this? What happened?" Archelaus looked astonished and upset as I set the calibers on the floor gently. "I asked for the bodies of the girls, not of our own!"

"Ask _Beck_," Fancy said, a little rudely to our leader.

My eyes darted at the floor. Terror and panic rose in my throat.

"Beck, what did you do this time?" He made it seem like whenever things went wrong it was always my fault, which wasn't completely one-hundred percent true.

"They got away," Fancy couldn't keep herself from interrupting, a sick smile twisting at her lips. I wanted to reach back and punch her in the face like I'd accidentally done to Jade, but I couldn't move from my spot in front of the feared leader.

"How did that happen?"

"Well, Beck—"

"Shush. I want to hear it from him," Archelaus quieted her down. "Look at me, Beck."

I couldn't.

"Are you afraid of me, Beck?"

"Yes."

"Yes _what_?"

"Yes _sir_," I seethed, my eyes focused hard on the ground.

"Good. But you can look at me. I promise nothing bad will happen as long as you tell me the truth." Slowly, I raised my gaze. His eyes, shadowy-green and throwing daggers into my chest, connected with my brown ones. I tried not to blink. "What happened, Beck?"

"We cornered and attacked both girls like you asked, sir," I started, trying to keep my voice steady and unwavering. "The Regenator took out two of us and managed to get away from me while briefly incapacitated. She picked up her fallen partner and started to run, but Fancy shot her twice."

"Yes, yes I did, Beck, and tell Sir Archelaus what happened _after_. What you did to me, to be specific."

"Shut up, Fancy and let him speak for himself," Archelaus reprimanded.

I licked my lips nervously, my throat tightening up.

"Are you going to say anything or what, Beck?"

"No sir." The dread was evident in my tone, and I wanted to smack my forehead. _I'm such a coward_.

"Very well." Archelaus reached out and grabbed my wrist. He sucked in a breath, and it suddenly felt like he was absorbing my life out of my body. Gasping, I fell my knees as my skin quivered under his touch. I was shaking involuntarily as my powers were sucked out of me, traveling up his fingers into his own skin.

Archelaus's face flushed red as mine went pale. Finally, he released me and I collapsed into a heap, curling up into a ball.

"Look at me, Beck."

I raised my head and stared into his eyes. He used my Trigger mind-reading powers to look into my thoughts. I couldn't keep him out. Even though I was trained to do so, right now I was weak and scared.

"Oh, ho-ho! That makes sense!" Archelaus laughed joyfully and relaxed his gaze. My face smashed down onto the ground, the images swimming before my eyes. "She's his _girlfriend_! The Regenator!"

Trina gasped in shock.

"No way!" Fancy started laughing. "Aw, you tried to save your girl from me, that's what, then, huh Beck?" Her voice screeched in my ears like nails on a chalkboard.

"Well, we can't have that. It's going to keep you from using your powers to their full extent, and judging from what recently happened, I fear it already has. You all have failed, most particularly you, Beck."

Archelaus knelt down until his breath was hot against my face. "And because you failed, you must be punished. But I don't think a regular punishment is going to solve your problem." He stood back up, looking at the calibers in the room; his followers.

"Beck let two potential threats go. I hope none of you do the same in the future."

"No, sir!" everyone shouted with great force. I was still wallowing on the floor, trying to make myself as insignificant as possible.

"Because if any of you do, you will surely pay the same consequence Mr. Oliver is going to pay right now."

I looked up at his expression; cold and hard, nothing but violence in his eyes.

Archelaus stared back down at me, his mouth curling into a malicious smile. "I need my Strengthers to step forward now." The calibers with insane amounts of physical strength. I heard the heavy footsteps falling and saw their combat shoes in the corners of my eyes.

"Kill him."

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**Cliffhanger! Sort of. **

**How'd you guys like this chapter? Beck has it coming, doesn't he? :O**

**And yes! If you're a Robbie fan, he is coming, very, very soon! I bet you all can't wait, huh? :)**


	11. Hang On

**I am sorry for the late updating. I figured out what was wrong with the story (none of the foreshadowing I did made sense and the ending was stupid) so I went back to fix all the chapters so they made sense and fit. Hopefully it is more enjoyable now. **

**To TobiasFangor92-this is a Jori story. It's just not a romance one  
To SkyeVenomatic-thanks so much for your help/advice! :)**

**And of course more thank you hugs to: Kittkatt11, NeonLovesYou, CanadianPianoMan, BelletheWickedWitch and heythere! :D**

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CHAPTER 10  
Jade's POV

We went to the airport empty-handed and Tori riding on my back. She claimed that all the 'walking' was making her tired and she wasn't going to budge until she felt better, and I really wanted to get the show on the road so I grudgingly obliged to carry her.

"You are such a baby sometimes," I muttered.

"No. I just got out of the hospital this morning," she argued. "Just because you don't know what it's like to be in pain for more than two minutes doesn't mean the rest of the world doesn't either."

"Excuse me. I feel _emotional_ pain just like anyone else does."

Tori was silent, and I felt like I had made my point. Her finger reached for the back of my neck and she said, "Hey, you're wearing it!"

"What else did you expect me to do with it?" I replied, referring to the dog tags she'd given me that triggered my memory. "That thing helped me remember so much. I'm not going to be stupid and throw it away."

"Aw, you do care."

I made a huffing noise and refused to say another word.

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Once we touch downed, we left the airport in a hurry and took a cab to the alley by André's lab. This time I slammed my entire body onto what I thought was the hidden door, but ended up bouncing off solid brick and landing hard on the ground. Tori laughed as obnoxious as humanly possible and found the door herself.

André greeted us by grabbing our arms and dragging us into the big lab room. I noticed the curly-haired boy with a thing on his arm standing in the middle, looking at us behind big-framed glasses.

"You're Robbie, right?" I said, putting out my hand. He dropped the thing he was holding, letting it dangle awkwardly from one arm and grabbed my hand firmly. I crushed his fingers until I heard a pop and let go. He was obviously trying to keep the pain off his face and I snickered softly.

"Yes, I'm Robbie Shapiro. And this is Rex." He pointed to what I now identified as a puppet that bore a strange resemblance to him. "I'm a Dimensioner."

"Regenator," I informed him causally.

"And I'm Tori," the girl piped up as they shook her hands.

"Good to meet you both," Robbie said, trying to be professional, but I don't see how he could be with a smaller doppelganger on his arm. "I hear that you're going after Archelaus."

"That's right." I walked over to André sitting in front of the giant monitor. "You got any brilliant plans for us to follow next?"

"Archelaus is now in Hollywood, California. I've got pretty much the exact location and it'll still continue to track him until he leaves the planet, which by all means could be possible; but as long as I can communicate with you both—" he gestured to me and Tori, "—then I can keep telling you where he is and he'll never be able to avoid the radar."

"Yes, and how exactly do you plan on communicating with us?" I asked, remembering that my phone was in pieces and I ended up throwing away the entire object, leaving it somewhere in New York. My insurer was probably not going to happy about that.

"I made up some earpieces for you to use that double as microphones." André wheeled over to a table and lifted up the sheet, revealing a silver tray with six small devices. "Two for each of you, in case one breaks, which by all means could be possible with you lot." I glared at him as he picked one up and let me hold it. It was lightweight, made out of some sort of plastic, but looked highly sophisticated at the same time.

I quickly shoved it into my ear, the hook molding around the outside like a perfect fit. I took the other one, which was slightly smaller and didn't have a wrap around and put it in my left ear. At first I thought I was going to hear things at a softer degree with the thick implants, but the objects seemed to increase sounds.

For instance, I could hear without seeing that Robbie was trying to flirt with Tori and Tori was awkwardly trying to avoid his questions.

"Testing, one, two, can you hear me?" André's voice was suddenly loud in my ear.

"Yep. Loud and clear, sir," I replied, giving him a salute.

"Okay, so if you want to communicate back with me, you press the button on the side of the device." Feeling along the sides of the apparatus, I noticed a small bump and pressed on it. "Now say something."

"I think Robbie has a crush on Tori," I whispered.

"Perfect," André replied, laughing a little.

"Dang. I feel like we're doing some sort of _Mission Impossible _thing," I commented, playing with the gadgets in my ears.

"Well, you kind of are. Tori and Robbie, can you come over here to get yours in?"

"Oh, so Robbie's going to coming with us then?" I asked as the boy put 'Rex' on the table and started inserting the pieces into his ears.

"How else are you going to be able to change locations so fast if Archelaus starts moving?"

"I don't know…I just…" I didn't know how to respond. I for one wanted as few people as possible to join; to lessen the risk of getting someone hurt, but maybe having some extra help wouldn't be such bad thing.

"As long as you don't try and betray us on the way, I'm cool with you." Tori glanced at Robbie and gave him a sweet smile.

"Never," Robbie replied swiftly.

"Well, with Rob here—" the puppet suddenly spoke, now resting on Robbie's arm. Robbie clamped his hand over Rex's mouth, his own eyebrows rising.

"Shush, Rex!"

I gazed at him awkwardly. The performance was quite convincing, but that only made me question the boy even more.

"Is that puppet real?" I asked him, the words sounding much stupider out loud than in my head.

"Well, he's not really a puppet," Robbie said, but was interrupted.

"Oh, wait Robbie; I have some contacts for you to wear." André came up with a small two-container case and gave them to him. "I'll send you pictures through them so you can see where you're going."

"Why does he need those?" I inquired.

Robbie turned and spoke to me like I was a little kid, which I did not appreciate. "Well you see, Dimensioners can only teleport to their next location if they know what it looks like. If they don't, then we could end up in some complete other place or get trapped in solid objects, which happened a few times to me and isn't really fun."

"Got it." I snapped my fingers at him.

"So after this are we set to go?" Tori asked, coming to stand by me again.

"Yep. Now that I can properly communicate and track all your guys' locations, I can give you instant help and get lots of feedback."

"Hold on." A thought came to my mind suddenly. "Do you think Archelaus knows about this lab you have?" I asked. "Because if he does, then won't he find out that—"

"Well, I put up a shield that keeps it hidden for the most part to the _normal_ human eye and off satellite maps, but I'm not quite sure about the caliber world. I think it is, but if it isn't, well, I'm not afraid of a fight."

"Okay. If you need help, we're right here. Now let's get going while I'm still in a good mood."

"Can you take care of Rex while I'm gone?" Robbie suddenly asked André.

"You want me watch your _puppet_?" André repeated, looking skeptical. I struggled to keep my grin of amusement off my face. "Why can't you just take him with you?"

"He'll just distract us." Robbie gently set the toy down on the table. "He doesn't bite. I promise."

"Uh…"

Robbie walked over to Tori and me, and put his hand on one of our arms.

"Whoa there, cowboy. What do you think you're doing?" I questioned, pulling away.

"If we're going to dimension together then I need to be holding onto you, otherwise you won't travel with us," Robbie said calmly.

I narrowed my eyes. Tori sighed at me. Slowly, I put my arm on Robbie's shoulder and he smiled _way _too happily.

"You know what the place looks like, right? I don't want to end up underwater or something."

"Star Road; I've been there before." Robbie tapped his head.

"Me too. So don't screw up."

"Good luck, you three. I'll be right here with you guys the entire time." He pointed to the screen, which now had three human bodies on it: mine, Tori's and Robbie's. I saw that my heart was beating the fastest and made a mental note to take a yoga class in the future or something.

"Okay. We're going to dimension in three…two…one…"

Suddenly I felt like I was being squeezed through a one-inch tube. Pressure was affecting me on all sides and I couldn't breathe because it was so much. Flashes of color and images of buildings flew before my eyes, and suddenly, I felt familiar ground beneath me.

There was a cloud of green smoke surrounding us and after it cleared I saw Robbie walking around in a small circle, looking pleased with himself. Tori was crouched on the ground, looking like she was going to be sick.

"Whoo…what a ride," I panted, trying to gain my breath and surroundings. It was nighttime here, with a crisp air blowing by. There was no humidity thank God, and the shapes of buildings jogged my memory slightly.

Tori was making nasty retching noises now, her face as pale as mine.

"Are you okay, kid?" I walked over to her and kneeled down.

"Yeah," she gasped, reaching for my outstretched arm and pulling herself up. "I just feel like I had the crap squeezed out of me."

"Sorry ladies," Robbie walked up to us, now looking sheepish. "Forgot to warn you that the first time dimensioning can be pretty uncomfortable."

"Wow, thanks for that," I muttered as Tori stood fully.

"Jade?" I nearly jumped when I heard my name being called in the earpieces. "Can you hear me?"

I yelled back at him, "Yes! Why the heck are you yelling?"

"Sorry. It's my first time using this and—"

"Man, why do we always have to be your 'first?' Next time find some other people to be your guinea pigs, okay? What do you want?"

"Wow. Talk about harsh." André seemed offended. "Archelaus is remaining in his position. I'm not sure if he wants to meet up with you guys, because I'm pretty sure that he knows you're there, but—"

"Thanks for that, André. Bye!" I turned back to the others. Robbie was talking quietly to Tori, and she seemed to be shaking her head. "Okay, kids, does anyone know which way we're going to go?"

"I'm not a kid," Robbie complained, straightening up.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-three."

"Me too, buddy."

"Oh. Good. Maybe we can go out to get a drink sometime." Robbie grinned, and I interrupted, "In your dreams, sonny boy."

"Hey, guys, André says that this alley right here is what we should travel down," Tori said, getting between us.

We walked to the opening of the dark passage and the two of them stopped.

"What? What are you all afraid of?"

"Ladies first," Robbie said, smiling sheepishly and pushing me to the front.

"Wimp," I muttered, stepping forward and being greeted by a wash of black and garbage. And hold on…was that blood too? I left the others behind to hurry closer to the scent. I would know it of all smells, especially since I spent a lot of time stopping nosebleeds and clearing my mouth of torn skin and broken teeth.

With my new advance hearing, I could tell that Tori was trying not to have a panic attack while Robbie was staying calm himself, but then something else caught my attention.

Someone else was in here, and they sounded like they were in a lot of pain, judging by the uneven panting and wet coughs.

As I inched forward, the smell of blood became overwhelming.

And then I saw it.

The lump of something that didn't even resemble the shape of a human, lying next to a dumpster. The stench of trash wasn't enough to mask the scent of salty blood.

I didn't know if I should go to it or run. It looked like an animal, maybe the world's biggest rat or something. I knelt down, trying not breathe through my nose.

Reaching out slowly, I touched the object gingerly, feeling a fluffy mane of hair between my fingers.

"_Beck_?"

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Beck's POV

_Oh god, oh god, oh god. Everything hurts so much_…

I could smell my blood. It was lodged in my throat and filled my nose with its sickly sweet odor. I felt like I was slowly dying.

_I'm sorry, Jade. I tried. I just can't do it anymore_.

As I felt myself slipping away into the hands of death, and I could've sworn I heard my girlfriend calling my name.

"Beck? Beck! Beck!"

_I'm sorry. I love you too_.

My broken fingers tightened slightly on the crinkled picture in my hand. I refused to let it go when the Strengthers hit me, knowing that the girl in it was the only reason why I was still alive.

Something touched my blood-soaked hair. My chest was expanding and shrinking rapidly yet I still couldn't breathe; choking because I was lying on my face. But the fact that my girlfriend was mentally by my side calmed me down a little bit.

"Beck! Don't die, I'm right here! Look at me."

And suddenly I rolled over, the pain erupting everywhere. I was staring up at the dusky sky and a figure was above me.

"Beck!"

_Yes. Yes I am Beck. Please go away now. I don't want you to see me like this_.

"It's me, it's Jade! Oh no, please wake up!"

I saw the bright blue eye. Jade wasn't in my dreams, she was really here! I tried to raise my arm to touch her face, but it was broken in too many places to be able to move.

"Jade," I hissed so softly I was afraid I only imagined it.

"I'm here, don't worry." She leaned down and kissed me very gently.

The fireworks of happiness exploded in my head. It had been six years since I received a kiss similar to this one. Sure Trina had always been extremely flirty with me—heck, all the girls were—but this was different. It was genuine and full of love.

"Tori! Robbie! Call 911 or something!" Her breath came across my face. "I love you, Beck. Don't worry. I won't let you die."

_Those guys were aiming to kill me. I should be dead already_.

She touched my face and I threw up my other half-broken arm, ignoring the searing pain and tangling my fingers in her hair, trying to pull her closer. She leaned over so I wouldn't have to work as hard and I could hardly sense the other people standing by her.

Tears dripped from her eyes, and I started crying too. I knew I was dying. I bet this was all a set up by Archelaus. He was going to hurt me to the point of where I was only hanging on by a thread, and then allow my girlfriend to watch me die.

What a sick man.

Fighting to stay alive, I wanted Jade to know one more thing before I passed out forever. "I…love…you…" I choked out. And everything went black.

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**:O**

**And yet another cliffhanger! XD I will be putting the next chapter up once it's properly edited. But then I'm going to be really busy for the next few weeks because of camp, vacation, and then my school starts right in the freaking middle of August. :|**

**Oh well. Hope you liked this. **


	12. Reunited

**First off I am going to say sorry for how incredibly boring and 'chatty' the last few chapters have been. Unfortunately they are necessary for the story and luckily this is the last one (I'm 90% sure about that). Anyway, some new things revealed in this one...yep yep. **

**Thanks to: LizGfan25, heythere, CanadianPianoMan, NOO-OOO-OOO97, and Kittkatt11. I love you guys!**

**Hopefully no one is too OCC. It was kind of difficult. **

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CHAPTER 11

Tori's POV

I felt very worried for Jade and her boyfriend. He was a complete and total mess, pretty much just a corpse at this point. Jade looked scared, angry and hurt at the same time, like she was struggling to figure out how to release her emotions.

When the ambulance Robbie called for arrived, they took Beck away in the back along with Jade, who insisted she ride along unless someone wanted their head separated from the rest of their body. I wondered where they would take him, because I'm eighty percent sure that he was dead. And also that left me with Robbie, who was really starting to creep me out.

"I didn't know she had a boyfriend," he commented as we watched the wailing vehicle leave.

"Yep. Apparently my necklace I gave her triggered her memory into remembering about him."

"Darn. You shouldn't have given her the necklace."

"What?" I stared at him.

"Nothing."

"So what do we do now? Go to the hospital or morgue or wherever the heck those two disappeared off to?" I muttered, not wanting to hang around here too much. I had no idea if my parents were really looking for me, and if they were, this would be a big problem for me.

"Let me call André and get him to send me picture of the place so I can get us there." Robbie brought his hand to the earpiece to converse with the IQer. I looked around and kicked the edge of the sidewalk with my toe. Finally Robbie was done and gave me a nod. I held out my hand and he took it, smiling like a dork.

Then we disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

I felt my insides trying to squeeze their way out of my mouth, the air being crushed out of my lungs. Suddenly the dizzying, tightening motion stopped and we hit solid concrete.

"You're okay, right Tori?"

"Yep. After the first time, it can only get better right?" I tried to smile away the queasy feeling in my gut. "Let's go wait in the lobby."

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Jade's POV

Beck—my _boyfriend_—did not look good. I was convinced he had actually died until the EMTs hooked him up to all sorts of machines and started shocking him back to life repeatedly. I could only sit there and watch in horror, hoping that he pulled through.

His face looked like it got shredded in a meat grinder, with chunks of his beautiful hair missing. Both arms and legs were twisted at the most awkward angles, bending in the middle and being turned almost three-hundred-sixty degrees. There was blood everywhere.

"What did they do to you?" I whispered, touching his cold hand gently. I opened his fist and noticed that he was holding something. Carefully, I slid the piece of crumpled paper out and looked at it.

It was a picture of him and me, on the beach, six years ago.

That was why he and Cat wanted those pictures, and they were taken in that old-fashioned Polaroid. There would be no time for them to develop otherwise (since they were attacked that night) and keeping them in a phone was out of the question.

I touched our smiling faces. _He still had it, even though for the majority of time he had no idea who I really was_.

Beck saved mine and Tori's life, and now was fighting to hold onto his own. I didn't want to cry. Crying was for losers. For weak people who lost everything and given up all hope.

But even still, I had to turn away so no one would see the mistiness in my eyes.

After we arrived, the medics took him away on the gurney straight to the emergency room to fix him ASAP. They gave me a bunch of forms as I had told them that I was girlfriend (which was one of the first truths I'd ever told anyone in a while) and was brought into the lobby to fill them out.

Tori and Robbie were there. They got up to sat down next to me.

"You okay?" Tori asked.

"No."

She sighed, patting my shoulder awkwardly before going back and fiddling with her thumbs.

"You know, if you guys want you can go and find your sister, kid. You don't need to wait for me. I don't think I'll be out of here for a while," I said, leaning back and scribbling the pen across the surface of the paper.

"No. We're all in this together," Tori responded firmly.

"Fine. But don't ever let me hear you say that again," I snapped. "We don't live in a musical."

She laughed.

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The nurses came back an hour later and told us that Beck would be in surgery for a while due to the amount of injuries he had sustained for whatever reason. I wished I could transfer my Regenator powers to him so he could wake up faster and tell me the answers to all the questions I had.

Tori and Robbie sensed my discomfort.

"Why don't we go out and eat something? It's not going to do you any good if we stay in this place all day," Tori said, standing in front of me to get my attention.

I put on my best pouty face and stared at her feet. "No."

"Come on." She tried to pull my arms away from my chest. "Let's go. It's not healthy to stay here like this. Here, I'll make Robbie pay for the bill."

"Hey!" came the voice of the Dimensioner.

"Please?"

I looked up and saw Tori's chocolate eyes, begging like a puppy. I didn't want to fall for it, but I couldn't help myself. "Fine, kid. But it better be quick." She grinned and yanked me out of my chair.

"I know the perfect place we can go."

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Beck's POV

I kept going in and out of the darkness. Demonic voices swarmed my ears, and hot hands burned my skin. I tried to flinch away, but my body wasn't responding. The heavenly voices of angels humming in the air overtook the evil and I drifted away peacefully.

When I finally gained 'consciousness,' the first thing I noticed was the strong scent of cleanliness; alcohol and disinfectants. I could hear the soft beeping noises of machines attached to my body with needles and sticky gel pads. Nothing hurt, so I guess that was a good thing.

Unless I was dead.

_ But was heaven really like this?__ No, no, I have to be in some fancy part of hell. Yeah, that's probably it. For hurting all those innocent people_…

"Beck? Beck?"

The words snapped me out of my thoughts. _Oh no. Did Jade commit suicide and die too? Is that why she's here? Wow. I wonder how she managed that, being a Regenator_…

"Beck! You're not dead. I can see that stupid smile on your face."

_I am alive! Success! And was I really smiling? Hmm…I don't even know what I'm so happy about_.

I fought to open my eyes. It felt like someone was holding them closed but after much struggle, I finally succeeded, feeling a sharp stab in my brain from the bright lights.

"Hey, sleepy-head!"

I could make out Jade's form floating in front of me. Trying to take a deep breath, I realized that there was something in my mouth and down my throat that was in the way, and I felt the air whistling in uncomfortably loud.

"How you doing, baby?"

_What is this_? I raised my arms slowly, not feeling any pain and seeing that they were both heavily wrapped in casts. I sucked in a breath, the odd noise of it travelling down the pipe piercing my ears like bullets.

"Hmm, well you probably shouldn't be talking anyway," Jade said, observing my eyes. "Most of your ribs were either broken or crushed and because you're on a heavy amount of painkillers, the doctors wanted to make sure you would breathe, so that tube does it for you."

_Wonderful_.

"I thought you're a Trigger. Can't you read minds?"

_I'm tired_.

Jade sniffed before leaning over and kissing the side of my head gently. I would've turned to catch her lips with my own, but that would've been very awkward since I had the hose in my mouth that was trailing down my chest, over the side of the bed and towards the noisy machine that was supposedly breathing for me.

"I missed you. And I never got to say thanks for saving my life," she went on.

I blinked, looking up at her beautiful face that I had tried to destroy a while ago.

"I'd like you to meet the friends I made that helped me out this far," she said, standing up and gesturing to the door. As if on cue, two people walked in, a male and female.

"Beck, this is Tori Vega, a Kinecter, and Robbie Shapiro, a Dimensioner," Jade told me. "You helped save Tori's life the other day when you also tried to kill me. She's also the one who gave me _the necklace_." She hinted heavily to the last words.

_Oh. So that's what she looks like_.

Tori waved shyly at me, and Robbie grinned brightly.

"We'll go back and wait outside, Jade," Tori interrupted quickly. She grabbed Robbie's shoulder and pushed him out the door, shutting it behind her.

I sighed comfortably. _Mission is almost accomplished. I hope you're proud of me, Cat, wherever you are_.

"So Beck, I don't think I'm going to ask you what Archelaus did to you this time, but there are some other questions of the past that I'd like some answers to." _Not now, please_. "Why exactly did you—"

I shut my eyes and tried to drown out her voice.

"Beck! Oh come on, just look at me. You're not being a very good actor right now. You used to be a lot better if I can remember clearly." Yep, her nature hadn't changed a bit, even after forgetting me for six years.

My head lolled on my chest, and I felt the sharp jerk as the tube went down with it. "Hmm, fine. I'll stop talking now. You go to sleep then."

_Thank you_. She kissed me once more before I slipped away in peace and happiness.

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Jade's POV

I remained by Beck's side as much as I possibly could, when the doctors allowed me to stay. Tori was getting extremely antsy (but I didn't blame her), and I gave Robbie fifty bucks to take her to foreign countries like Paris and Australia so she wouldn't have to hang around the hospital so much.

According to André, Archelaus was still in his LA base, so I guess that was a good thing, although it could mean that he was planning to kill us at the same time.

Beck was now in a wheelchair while his legs healed but he could talk a little bit and interact with me, so I was fully satisfied. It felt like just yesterday we had been sitting on the beach together with Cat…talking about what our last words to each other would be…

Hold on. The memory may have occurred a long time ago, but it had been the most recent one before they all disappeared, so it was still fresh in my mind.

On the beach house, when Beck and I had been talking together right before we went to bed, he had asked me what the last thing I would say to him would be. I gave him my answer, thinking that it was just one of those things couples did, but I don't think so. He knew what was going to happen that night, but he didn't know if he was going to live again to see me.

How exactly did he know all that?

Cat?

The Predicter whose prophecies were always accurate and correct? How could she see so far ahead in the future?

"What's wrong, babe?" Beck's voice was similar to a low growl even though he wasn't angry. It was because his throat was left very dry after the doctor took out the tube and it was still hard for him to speak.

"Cat. What happened to Cat?" I asked, turning to look at him.

"I…I don't know," he confessed. "After that night, I never saw her again. I kept an eye out for her around Archelaus…but she wasn't there. She might still be alive, having gotten away too, or she could be dead. My only concern was you at the time." His eyes were filled with the agony of having to leave his best friend since second grade for his girlfriend of two years.

I breathed heavily out of my nose. Bubbly, happy, naïve Cat. My heart twisted up, and I said nothing. I held his hand in mine, smiling up at him, but he kept looking at the door before finally speaking.

"Could you…bring the other two in? I have some important information for all of you to hear if you want to bring down Archelaus."

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**Yes, I realize that half of this chapter was mostly pointless/unnecessary rambling. Sorry. Like I really am. :(**

**Next chapter we resume action, I swear to God. Because if we don't...I'm going to get too bored and quit.**


	13. Into the Base

**Okay so one really quick morning update before I get ready to go on vacation for the next three days. :) Hopefully it's not too rushed because I had to put a lot of stuff in this chapter. And also there's some clues in this so pay close attention! **

**Special thanks to: Sea-Green93, heythere, SkyeVenomatic, and Kittkatt11. :D**

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CHAPTER 12  
Jade's POV

Eager to follow my boyfriend's orders, I practically ran out into the lobby and grabbed Tori and Robbie's arms, dragging them back to the room without a word.

"Hi, Beck," Tori greeted calmly.

"'Sup, man?" Robbie said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"I have some important information for you three," Beck whispered and I sat down on the bed next to his wheelchair, reaching over to hold his hand. Robbie noticed and wrinkled his eyebrows, almost looking jealous. "About Archelaus."

"Let's hear it then," Tori said, plopping right down on the floor.

"Well, the reason why he's been able to avoid capture for nine years is because he's got this machine called Enkéfalos, which was created by a Communicater named Mr. Michael.

"Enkéfalos can track down anyone on Earth and read their thoughts. That's how Archelaus knew both of you were coming after him so he could move. He's been doing the same thing every time someone tries to find him. It's kind of a tedious process, but now that's he captured so many calibers he can do just about anything he wants."

"Then what is he waiting for?" I asked. "What are his plans next?"

"I've heard things about him going forward to wiping out the entire human race. He says that calibers are the only people worthy to roam on these lands," Beck sighed. "But I'm not sure if that's entirely true or the entire arrangement. I wasn't one of his most trusted sidekicks, after all." He looked down at his lap.

"You mean he could be watching us right now?" Robbie asked skeptically.

"Yep. Fortunately, Enkéfalos requires a lot of power and Mr. Michael is the only one who knows how to use it, so it's not _always _in use. However, this is Archelaus we're talking about, so you never know."

"Then how are we going to infiltrate and destroy his base if he'll know our every move?" Tori asked.

"You have a Dimensioner. You have an IQer who is able to track down Archelaus's exact location, which has never been able to be done before. In my opinion, I think you're all set." Beck gave a small grin.

"Keep going, because I have no idea what you're implying."

"It's simple. You three go to the base and find Tori's sister. She'll know even more about Archelaus because she's a lot closer to him than I ever was."

"I don't think Trina will remember me. I think Archelaus did something to her," Tori admitted, chewing on her bottom lip.

"No. Archelaus didn't directly do anything to her. I did."

Tori stood up fast, her hands balled into fists. Robbie moved to be closer to her, and I straightened my back, ready to protect my boyfriend if necessary.

"I'm sorry. When I first was taken to Archelaus, the very first test I was given after training was to trigger someone into forgetting about their family and past hatred for him. Trina was brought in and I triggered her."

Tori's eye was twitching and she took a step forward.

"Careful," Robbie warned.

"Okay, I know you're probably really mad. But look at the bright side," I intervened, suddenly thinking of something. "If _Beck _was the one to hide her memories, then he would know how to uncover them, right?"

"Precisely." He beamed at my intelligence. "You need to give Trina this. Let her hold it, and she'll remember everything I concealed from her." Reaching underneath the seat of the wheelchair he pulled out a small, plastic hourglass that could time up to one minute. _How long has he had that there_?

"Where did you get that from?" Robbie asked before I could.

Beck shrugged, motioning Tori to come towards him. Tori did so, and he gently took her hand, placing the object in the middle of her palm.

"Thanks, I guess…" she backed up.

"All right, so that solves the Trina problem. But what about Archelaus himself?"

"I'm not quite sure. Since I'm going to go out on a whim that he's probably reading all of our thoughts right now with that foul Enkéfalos, the only chance that you have is to completely improvise when you get there."

"Improv?" I took classes at an acting school, but this was different. It was a matter of stopping the greatest caliber who'd ever lived or die trying.

Beck nodded. "That's the best I got. Just make sure, that if you do ever see him, not to let him touch any part of your skin, or he can suck out your powers to use. He did it to me before setting his Strengthers to kill me, and it's not very nice. Of course your abilities come back eventually, but right now, time is of the essence."

"Okay, that just makes thinks a little more difficult," I said.

"It seems impossible—maybe because it partly is—but that doesn't matter. Tori and Jade, you are the only two who can make this happen. I know you probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but I can't tell you until that man is out of power."

"What about me?" Robbie interrupted.

"Yes, and you. You're just as important as they are.

"All right, well, we have a basic outline of what's going to happen, and I'm afraid that's as far as I risk going unless we want to be found out. Are you guys willing take the ball and run with it if you have to?"

"What kind of metaphor is that?" Tori asked me.

I ignored her and put my hand forward. "Yes or no, kid. Choose wisely."

"Duh. Yes." Tori slapped her hand on top of mine.

"Why not?" Robbie flashed me a flirty smile and put his above Tori's. I glanced at Beck. In his condition, he wouldn't be ready by the time we needed to go before it was too late. But I could tell from the look in his eyes that he had other schemes.

"Let's go." Beck smiled planted a kiss on my cheek before stretching out his arm as far as it would go.

"Perfect."

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When Beck was well enough to manage on his own, Robbie dimensioned us back to André's lab in Orlando. Tori was shaking with excitement and even I was acting like I'd won the lottery.

Beck and André shook hands in a formal greeting, since they would both remain in the lab to give us instruction while we went out to do the actual work. André had apparently made us leather suits, much like the ones Archelaus's followers had, but I told him we were not wearing anything until the battle was over. We weren't heroes just yet.

Instead, the three of us went shopping for clothes that would work well during a fight. After visiting almost ten different stores, we were finally satisfied with the layers we were wearing and returned to the 'headquarters.'

"We will be monitoring your location and health from here, as well as give you new information if anything starts to go wrong," André stated, as Beck rolled up in his wheelchair next to the big monitor, a big shotgun of André's across his lap. They had decided if Archelaus were to barge in, they would at least be able to give him a surprise. "Return here only if the mission is aborted, okay? Good luck."

I went over to Beck and gave him the biggest, sloppiest kiss I could manage. He laughed and hugged me back awkwardly. Tori actually went over to André and gave him a small peck on the cheek, mumbling something to him that even I couldn't hear with the enhanced earpieces (which André had updated), while Robbie stood there alone, looking extremely left out.

"Where's my good luck kiss?" he said, eyes drooping sadly.

I went to stand next to him, Tori on his other side.

"I'll give you a hug if we all get out of this alive," Tori promised, linking her arm in his.

"Yeah. And I'll take you out for a drink too," I added.

"It's a deal."

Beck and André gave us salutes as we got ready to dimension back to California, where Archelaus still was. I winked at both of them, Robbie took my arm, and we disappeared in a cloud of green smoke.

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After we hit the ground, I stood up, starting towards the alley that we had found Beck in a few weeks ago. Robbie was right behind me, Tori in the rear. We had agreed that me, being the Regenator, should go first so they didn't sustain any unnecessary injuries that I could simply heal from.

"Kind of exciting, right?" I heard Tori whisper to Robbie from my advanced hearing.

"Yep."

"Shut up, you guys!" I hissed. Pulling my hood over my head, I stopped at the end of the alley, which then split off in two opposite directions. Robbie and Tori, ignoring my warning and chatting quietly, almost ran into me and I kicked Robbie in the shin to keep him paying more attention to his actions.

"Go right," André whispered in my earpiece.

"Got it." I peeked around the corner, and saw a huge man standing there, his back towards us. I turned around and nodded towards the other two, indicating for them to stay put while I engaged the enemy.

"Be careful, Jade." That was Beck's concerned voice.

"Love you."

Shaking out my arms, I made my way towards the man, who turned around to look at me. His eyes glowed, and I made sure not to make eye contact with him in case he could read minds or something.

"What are you doing back here?" the man asked.

"I need help. My car broke down."

"Go somewhere else."

I sighed, still getting closer, noting that his hands were pulled into huge fists. _He's probably a Strengther. You better be careful_.

"Jade, that's one of guys that was sent to kill me. Don't get him mad. Take him out quick."

I quieted Beck's frantic voice in my ear with the new mute feature. I needed to focus.

"Look, buddy, why do you seem so scared of me? Shouldn't it be the other way around?" I stopped in front of him.

"Go away."

"Is this the entrance to Archelaus's base?"

His fist came forward suddenly, and I ducked just in time. Regaining my balance quickly, I punched him sharply in the forehead, breaking my hand at the same time. Yelping, I backed away, trying to recover but I was a little too slow.

He barged into my legs, knocking me onto my back.

Then suddenly, we were both engulfed in a cloud of smoke and the man let go of me in the shock. When it cleared, I found Robbie sitting on top of him, a tranquilizer dart still stuck in the man's neck.

"You okay?" Tori hurried down the hall and helped me up.

"Yes." I winced when I heard the snap of my bones popping back into place. Robbie hopped off the guy and rubbed his hands together like he was cold or something. "Thanks, Rob."

"You're welcome."

"Okay. Obviously we're in the right place if he acted like that. Now all we need to do is find the fricking entrance. That's going to be so easy, right?" Tori grinned with a hint of sarcasm.

The wall led up to what seemed to be twenty stories of building in the darkness of the night. _Wow, I wonder how Archelaus managed to take charge of this thing so fast_.

"Hey, guys. Beck said that the door should be right here." Robbie was standing in front of a particular part of the brick. "Is there a handle?" he asked the Trigger back in Orlando. "Hmm. Can you two come over here and help me figure out to get in?" Tori bounded over like a rabbit and started pressing down each individual brick.

I turned the volume back up in my ears. "Beck, how do you usually get into Archelaus's base?"

"You have to be one of his followers and have your handprint registered. Just press it against the side of the door, it will read the pattern and you'll be in."

"Cool." I turned around, looking for the body of the Strengther…but it was gone.

"Hey," I said to the other two, "Do you know where the body went?"

Tori turned around, red in the face. "No. Isn't he still…oh."

"Yeah. Robbie, how much medicine did you put in that dart?"

"A lot. He shouldn't have woken up so fast."

"Well he managed to get away, so you failed. How are we going to get in now?"

"Maybe you could dimension?" Tori asked Robbie. He shook his head, looking very skeptical.

"I have to know exactly what it looks like, otherwise we could end up in a complete different place."

"Ask Beck."

"Beck, what does the inside back door hallway of the base look like? Describe it to Robbie so he can get us in."

"That's too dangerous. I can't do it," Beck argued.

"Please," I begged.

He sighed. "Well, it's narrow, about fifteen feet wide, and there are open pipes on the ceiling. It's dark and gloomy, and leads down about a hundred feet to two other doors."

"You hear that, Robbie? Let's go."

I grabbed onto him and Tori.

"Are you sure?" Robbie was starting to seriously doubt himself. "I don't think the way I see it is the exact same as it really looks."

"Just try, Shapiro!" I shouted.

"Okay."

The world went fuzzy as we transported.

When I took my first breath, the air was stale and thin. Coughing frantically, Tori groped at her throat, clawing at her face. I looked around. It was dark and gloomy, just like Beck had described, but there were no pipes on the ceiling and we weren't in a hallway, but a big room.

"You screwed up, Robbie," I panted, realizing how hard it was to breathe. "Beck, where are we?"

"An abandoned prison in Europe."

"What the heck?"

"I'm sorry!" Robbie panicked, putting his hands up as I lunged towards him.

"Try it again! And keep us in the United States if you don't mind. Beck, give this kid more details. Obviously he doesn't have the best imagination, isn't that right, Shapiro?"

"There's almost a green tinge to it," Beck struggled to describe, "the walls are gray, and the paint is peeling in some places, revealing the original white underneath. You know Jade, I don't think this is going to be possible."

"Don't say that," I snapped.

"Okay, pipes, gray, sad, peeling paint, got it," Robbie recalled.

We resumed our positions next to each other. Suddenly, we disappeared in a cloud of not green, but blue smoke.

And we ended up in a hallway, almost exactly like the one Beck described. The cobalt exhaust around us receded slightly, and I spotted the two doors on the far other side.

"You guys are in!" André shouted excitedly.

"How did you do that?" I asked, pulling them both to their feet.

"I don't know. I don't think I did—" Robbie tried to say.

"Why did the smoke turn blue?" Tori interrupted.

"Cut the celebration," came Beck's stern voice. "Go to the door on the left. It should take you down some paths that bring you to the elevator or staircase. Watch out for his followers. We can't see them on the map, but they're bound to be there."

Tori looked at me with big eyes.

"We're almost there, kid."

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**Ta-da! So hopefully that was enough to hold y'all over for a few days. I will update again once I get back to my computer. Promise. And yes. The tiny bit of action was so nice to write for a change. ;)**


	14. Trina Vega

**I'm BAACCKK! Did anyone miss me? The vacation was okay. I attempted pole-dancing around the railing you use to get into the pool and ended up falling in. ;) What can I say, I'm a terrible dancer.**

**Next chapter, here it is! I guess it's doing okay, and we still have a few chapter until the end (I'm not for sure how many). I think I'll re-write this one day because I'm still not happy with the way it turned out. But until then, just enjoy!**

**Special dedication to: Kittkatt11 and CanadianPianoMan.**

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CHAPTER 13  
Tori's POV

I pushed Jade forward and assumed my position behind Robbie. We approached the door slowly.

"Be as quiet as possible, even when you're fighting, got it?" Jade put her hand against the handle. I grabbed onto Robbie's arm fearfully, and he reached back and patted my wrist reassuringly.

"One…two…three…"

The door swung open silently. Jade poked her head out, but she pulled it back in immediately; something sharp stuck out of her forehead.

"Jade, what's—"

"Back up! They saw me! They're coming!" Jade wrenched the dart out of her face and forced us to move back away from the door. There was nowhere to hide, so we pushed our bodies up against the wall. Robbie and I stayed on one side while Jade hid behind the door.

Suddenly, it swung open again and four people wearing tight black suites entered. Jade launched herself at the first person from behind, taking her down to the floor and smashing her face against the ground.

Robbie leaped forward to take down a skinny guy, and the other two looked at me. Trying to keep myself from screaming, I made the first move. I barreled into the man's stomach, almost feeling like I was getting sucked in. My hands moved around his waist, and I tried to be a wrestler and lift him off the ground, but he must've been three hundred pounds and remained standing, practically laughing at me.

Beck and André were screaming in my ears, something I couldn't understand in the heat of the moment. Focusing all of my power into my punches, I knocked the man in the temples and he actually slumped to the ground.

"Yes!" I shouted, terribly excited for knocking out my first opponent. But just then, hands came around my chest and locked my arms against my sides. I kicked out with my legs in frustration just as Jade was standing up. I hit her squarely in the back and she fell forward back against the wall. _Oops_.

The person lifted me off the ground; I dangling helplessly in the air.

Just then, Jade was standing right in front of us, and she looked _mad_.

"Duck, Tori."

I folded my chin under to touch my neck as Jade drew her fist back and hit the unsuspecting man behind me hard in the face. I felt his blood splash across the back of my hair, and he let go of me to grab his broken nose.

Crawling on the ground towards Robbie, I laid down across his body protectively as Jade quickly took out the last guy with a few swift kicks and a sharp punch.

"Is everyone okay?" Jade came to help me stand up.

"I don't know about Robbie…"

Jade knelt down and shook his shoulder. "Rob…Rob wake up."

"Huh?" Robbie's eyes fluttered open and he blinked a few times, bringing a hand to his pale forehead. "Oh god, what happened?"

"You tell me."

"I feel so sick…like I'm going to throw up or something..." Robbie grabbed onto my arm and I helped steady him, a little hesitantly. "I have no idea what I did, either. One minute, I was trying to take down that caliber, but then I'm on the ground and everything is spinning."

"Hey, you guys!" André's voice was suddenly too loud in my ear. I jumped in surprise.

"André? Is that you?" I pressed against the button on the device to talk back to him.

"Oh, okay, good. We lost signal with you guys for a few moments there and also Archelaus's location. But he's still up in his office, so it's okay. I'm still trying to figure out why that happened. I think one of those calibers you fought had some sort of electrical interference power to keep your microchips from operating properly."

André tapped his fingers against a keyboard, the sound echoing in my head. "How many were there, Tori? It looks like Robbie's stats are dangerously low…"

"Um, I think there were four, but, uh…there's only three bodies around us." I counted twice to make sure. _There were four people, right_? Jade saw me talking to André and raised her eyebrow questioningly. "And Robbie looks like he's going to pass out."

"Oh boy. Tell him to talk to me."

"André's on the line for you," I told the curly-haired man.

Weakly, Robbie brought his hand to press the button on the device, leaning heavily against Jade, who did not look very excited about that. "No…he looked like a regular caliber. It's just…wow…I feel so tired, like I want to go to sleep right now."

"We need to keep moving, so suck it up," Jade seethed.

"Do you know where Trina is?" I asked André. He'd been able to take the DNA off the bracelet to also track down my sister.

"The building is thirteen stories. Naturally, Archelaus is at the top, and Trina is on the tenth one."

"Okay. Let's be regular humans and go the manual way. Mainly to keep our profiles low, but also because I don't think Jumpy over here will be able to handle it, and I don't want to end up in some European prison, okay?" Jade made the words final. She really was starting to act like a reasonable leader. I trusted her one hundred percent.

"Deal." I didn't feel like arguing.

"Tori, you want to go first or do you wanna make sure Robbie doesn't pass out?" Jade huffed. I went with the latter choice and Robbie, leaning heavily against my shoulder, Jade led the way gallantly.

_Almost there. We are so close to seeing my sister again_.

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Jade's POV

"Hold on, could you slow down a little bit? I think I'm going to vomit. For real this time." Robbie's voice echoed annoyingly in the tiny hall. Tori was completely red in the face from supporting his weight; after this I was going to need to sign her up for my workout session back in Orlando. She was sixteen for God's sake and was shaped like a stick.

"Do it on the wall, not me," Tori sighed, helping Robbie lean against the barrier.

"Geez, did that caliber you fought have some sort of virus-injecting powers?" I wondered aloud.

"No idea. He only touched me once," Robbie panted, squeezing his eyes shut and biting his bottom lip. He started making nasty retching noises, and Tori rubbed his back while I stood there watching. After a while it was obvious that nothing was coming up so I forced them to keep moving.

"Which way now, André, Beck?" I asked into the earpiece.

"Straight ahead. The elevator should be coming up soon."

He was right. After walking down a few hundred feet worth of halls, I saw the closed double-doors of the elevator. I made Tori and Robbie wait behind the corner while I approached it myself.

There were no buttons anywhere, but suddenly the gates opened and a tall, lanky woman walked out. I ran forward and clamped my hand over her mouth before she could scream, but reached over her shoulder to claw violently at my face.

I put her in a headlock, squeezing her neck as tightly as possible. She dug her abnormally long nails into my arm, drawing blood almost immediately while her other hand tried to find my eyes and poke them out.

It was a silent struggle, me having the upper hand with the surprise, but it had been a while and she hadn't passed out yet. Blood was trickling steadily onto the floor and I was pulling my head back trying to get out of her sharp grip.

Tori was watching helplessly from the corner while Robbie was nowhere in sight.

Suddenly, in my moment of distraction, a pointy finger jabbed into my eyeball. I screamed and let go, grabbing my face, feeling something wet dripping from the corner of my left eye and spinning around. Blinking furiously I looked up to see the woman charge at me, her fingers outstretched to give me a good view of the fact that her nails weren't even human, but slightly longer, sharper and more animal-like.

She dug her hands into my shoulders and knocked me back, sitting on top of me, pulling back a fist and aiming it towards my face.

But the blow never connected.

A foot came out of nowhere and hit her squarely in the temple and she collapsed like a dead weight. I tilted my head back and saw Tori smiling smugly at me.

"It's about time you did something right," I said, grabbing her hand to stand up.

"Always wait for the moment," she replied.

I brushed blood off my face and arm, rolling my eye to gain back its use. We retreated back to find Robbie curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth like a baby.

"The elevator is free."

Tori helped him up and I stalked over to the machine, sticking my head inside the still-open doors. But no sooner had I done so then they started to close, and I pulled out just in time.

"Hey!" I slammed a fist on the cold metal. "What is—"

"_Intruder alert, intruder alert_," came the animatronic voice from speakers lined against the walls all over.

"Oh, shoot, what do we do?" Tori asked, stopping behind me.

"Run!"

"Where?"

"Man, do I need to think of everything?" I shot back, panicking. "André, do you know where we should go when they start coming down to kill us?"

"Uhm, sure. Just like you said. Run."

"If we get out of here, I will personally kick _all _your guys' butts," I said, grunting as I threw Robbie over my shoulder. "You know, usually it's the guy carrying the girl, so obviously we have some sort of gender-switch problem here," I muttered.

He mumbled something inaudible.

"Okay, Tor, lead the way. And not towards the followers, mind you."

"Fine. Beck, are there any stairs here?"

"Yeah. There's one, I think, but I'm not for sure. I didn't exactly get to see much of the base before Archelaus wanted his guys to kill me—"

"Okay, moving on," I interrupted. "Let's go."

Tori started running, but she only seemed to be moving twice as fast as me because I was carrying Robbie, who was actually a lot heavier than I thought. Still, I managed quite well, constantly looking over my shoulder to see if anyone was following. No one was.

"Here! Here it is!" Tori wrenched the heavy door open and I ran through it.

"Okay, ten flights of stairs with a one-hundred-fifty pound man on my shoulder. Wonderful."

"I'm only one-forty," Robbie exhaled sadly.

"Whatever."

Huffing and puffing by the time we hit the fifth floor, I almost collapsed as Tori continued skipping up steps like she was still full of energy. I made her help Robbie after that because her happy mood was really getting on my nerves, and she stopped smiling once I was two floors ahead of her.

"Floor ten, floor ten," André kept repeating in my ears so much that I muted his voice.

We finally reached the metal door marked '10.' Tori fell onto the ground as Robbie straightened his back.

"I was actually okay to walk once we hit the seventh floor, but I didn't want to bother you girls," he admitted, moving in front of me to open the door. I slapped him upside the head so hard he staggered forward. "Ow, Jade. It was a joke."

"I don't care."

"Trina will be in a particularly big room, according to this seventy-percent accurate map of the building. Archelaus is remaining in position," this time it was Beck giving us information. My heart bubbled warmly at the sound of his voice. "The third door you'll see on the right."

"You go ahead, Robbie. I think you gave Tori a heart attack," I glared at him, looking back down at Tori. "Are you going to be okay, kid?" She was sweating heavily and panting like she'd just run a marathon.

"We're almost to Trina, I can handle it," she whispered, standing up.

"That's the spirit."

Robbie had his ear pressed against a door, telling us to quiet down as we approached. Tori swept invisible dust particles off her shirt. I raised my eyebrow, constantly looking back and forth on the staircase to make sure no one was here. Yet.

"You guys ready?" Robbie whispered.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I responded.

He slammed the door open.

The hall was completely empty. Man, this place was filled with these eerie passages. Robbie led us to what he counted as the third door on the right. Tori's eyes were shining with excitement of seeing her older sister again.

"You still have the hourglass?"

"Yep."

Slowly, Robbie pushed the door aside, revealing the huge room behind it. Fancy furniture and the newest technology filled the room, from leather couches and marble coffee tables to iPears hanging from the wall in sets of three like a news studio.

A woman who looked in her mid-twenties was standing on the other side, staring out the window that ran the length of the room.

"Trina?" Tori half asked, half shouted. Trina turned around. I'm not going to lie. She was actually kind of pretty, with dark brown highlighted curls that rested lightly on her shoulders. I could sort of see the resemblance to Tori if I looked hard enough.

Trina said nothing. Robbie shut the door behind us, forcing us three into the room. I didn't want to look the elder sister in the eye, realizing that Tori never told me what her caliber power was. Robbie already looked hypnotized by her beauty.

"It's me, sis, Tori," she begged, stepping closer.

"Archelaus warned me about you. Someone was going to pretend to be my sister. You can't fool me; I never had a sister," Trina's voice tinkled in the air.

Tori whipped the minute-glass out of her pocket, holding it high and making sure it caught Trina's eye. When she noticed the object, nothing funny happened. She kept looking at Tori like she was an idiot.

Then Trina's gaze shifted over to Robbie. Before I could blink, the boy suddenly fell to his knees, his arms dangling by his side. In the same instant, he stood up, charging towards me. I didn't have time to react because he was so fast. He pushed me over, sitting on top of my body, bringing back bad memories of when Beck had done the same to me.

Fumbling by his waist, Robbie pulled out a sharp knife.

"Where the _heck _did you get that from?" I yelled at him, panicking.

"What's going on? Is Robbie on top of you?" Beck's concerned voice filled my eardrums, but I was hardly focusing on him.

Robbie pressed the tip of the blade against my nose, twisting it slightly to draw a bead of blood.

"No, don't kill her yet," Trina said calmly. I didn't dare move but I could hear her coming closer, probably to Tori. Robbie bared his teeth at me, actually looking quite menacing for once.

"Trina, listen. It's me," Tori pleaded. Suddenly, she yelped and I turned my head, ignoring the pain as Robbie's knife slashed through my cheek. Trina was holding her own sister by the throat, lifting her two feet off the ground.

Tori was choking loudly, her eyes wide as she realized her own sister was actually going to kill her. I could do nothing, not even talk as the blade was now pressed firmly against my throat.

_Touch her, Tori! Touch your sister with the fricking hourglass and she'll remember_! I thought urgently.

It was only in the desperation of the moment that Tori's object came in contact with Trina's bare skin. She had been trying to grab her sister's arms in an attempt to let her go, but the plastic brushed up against Trina as well.

THUMP.

Tori fell to the ground, and Robbie blinked, leaping off of me, looking terrified and confused that he was holding a slightly bloody knife. But he kept quiet as I turned my attention to Trina, who was rubbing her temples wildly, eyes squeezed shut.

Labored breathing of Tori filled the room as we sat there silently.

Finally Trina let go of her head, looking down at her little sister.

"Tori?"

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**Anyone wanna guess what Trina's powers are? Mwahahaha. I don't think I ever mentioned it yet. But don't worry, I will!**


	15. Stay Together

**Sorry for not updating in like...a few days. I was writing another story (which I just published here yesterday in case you were wondering). It's called "Don't Sleep Until You're Dead." So if you're interested...don't hesitate to read it! :)**

**I'm not even sure if this chapter is that good. I think it might be kind of confusing, depending on how you look at it, I guess. **

**Thank you to: SkyeVenomatic, Jeremy Shane, Darlin24, and BelletheWickedWitch. :D**

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CHAPTER 14  
Tori's POV

"Trina?" I asked back.

"Oh my god!" Trina flung herself into my arms. I buried my face in her hair, the smell bringing back the familiar memories. "I can't believe I'm actually seeing you again!" She squeezed me tightly, and I felt the tears of happiness forming in my eyes. "How did you find me?"

"With Jade's help." I let go of her slightly and Trina looked over my shoulder at Jade, who was standing by the door, pawing at her face to get rid of the blood and glaring at Robbie.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that." Trina went over to apologize. "I'm a Hypnoser. The guy didn't do it; I swear."

A Hypnoser was someone who could control your mind by making their thoughts yours, and so Trina had probably forced Robbie to attack Jade when they made eye contact.

"Yeah, whatever." Jade swatted Trina's hand away and I frowned. My sister came back over to me and gave me another big hug. I noticed Robbie watching with a hopeful smile on his face, which I ignored.

"How have you been?" Trina asked, holding me at arm's length.

"Great! But we have one more mission to complete. We're not just here to rescue you," I admitted. "We need to bring down Archelaus is whatever way possible."

"Oh, yeah, my uh, former boss," Trina sighed.

"I'm going to wait in the hall while you two catch up on things," Jade announced suddenly. "Take your time. There's no rush. It's not like we're going out to save the world or anything," she added sarcastically before going out of the room.

"Why are you friends with her? She's very crabby for no reason."

"It's a long story."

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Jade's POV

"What's wrong, Jade?" Beck asked me quietly through the earpiece.

"Nothing," I hissed.

"You sound kind of jealous right now? Why's that?"

"I'm not jealous of anyone. You've got all the emotions wrong, Mister," I replied angrily.

"Ah. Well, you have a really awkward way of acting happy, then."

"Stop talking or I'm going to mute you."

"Go ahead." Beck was really enjoying this playful banter of his. That was easy for him to say; he wasn't inside the base of a criminal mastermind risking his life for the good of the planet.

I muted the devices and sighed, crossing my arms over my chest. Looking down the sides of the hall for anyone coming, it was eerily empty. I banged the back of my head on the wall, wrinkling my eyebrows.

Suddenly something caught my eye.

I turned my head towards the left, watching a pair of legs kick out as they rounded the corner at lightning speed. It was in my instinct to go after it without a second thought, seeing as that was what I had trained myself to do after six years of catching bad guys.

My boots skidded across the floor as I ran towards the person. I could hear their labored panting, almost like they'd been running for a much longer while. Not even remembering to turn back on my earpieces, I pumped my arms faster and focused on not falling over.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the skinny man, about my height, bent over. He turned around to see who was chasing him, a few strands of dark brown hair flopping over his white forehead, covering emerald green eyes. Upon seeing me, he stood up, revealing himself to be almost six-feet, but not much bulk, and hurried away.

_Okay, if this is one of Archelaus's followers, he would be running _after _me, not away_, I thought, sighing and attempting to follow. Luckily, I saw the door he passed through before disappearing completely behind it.

Hesitant if I should go through into the room without my other friends, I decided to screw it and walked right inside.

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Tori's POV

"I've got time," Trina said, smiling her brilliantly white teeth at me.

"Well I don't. We'd better get going before it's too late." I informed her, trying to turn around, but she caught my arm.

"At least tell me what's going on before we throw ourselves into the headlights."

"Okay, so first we were originally supposed to come here and just rescue you, but then some complicated things happened as this guy named Beck came and turned out to be Jade's boyfriend and—"

"Whoa, whoa…_Jade _is _Beck's _girlfriend?" Trina looked almost upset.

"Um…yeah."

Looking at Robbie for a split second, I heard her murmur, "Dang. Should've made him hit her harder." Trina licked her lips and jerked her thumb at the Dimensioner, who had been staring pointlessly at the ceiling this entire time. "Explain who that guy is then."

"Robbie."

"How old is he?"

"Same age as you, I think; twenty-three."

"If I can't have Beck, he seems just as close."

"Trina." I snapped my fingers in her face. "I didn't bring my friends so you could get into a relationship with them. You need to help us and tell us where Archelaus is so we can stop him before things get too complicated."

"Right, right." Trina nodded my approval. "What do you need to know?"

"We've got Beck on our side. He's…somewhere with another friend of Jade's who helped us track you and Archelaus down. Beck got banished from this base before he had a chance to see most of it, so that's where you come in."

"Because I'm Archelaus's right-hand girl, right?" she beamed.

"Sure."

"Okay. Well, for one thing he's probably watching us as we speakin his Enkéfalos machine that's being operated almost all the time, by Mr. Michael. Did Beck tell you that much?"

"Yes. Tell us about some of his calibers and who to watch out for."

"Sis, he's got tons of them, of all sorts. He doesn't have a Predicter, so he got Enkéfalos instead. You'll need to watch out for that, and especially the Dimensioners."

"Robbie's a Dimensioner."

"Oh, are you?" Trina glanced over at the curly-haired boy. He nodded. "I guess that's a good thing then. Archelaus has two. Springer and Rabbit. They're always ready, waiting for his signal to transport him wherever he wants, and that's why no one has been able to catch up to him."

"Because we can track Archelaus, Robbie will be able to take us to where he is as well," I told my sister smugly. Robbie waved at us when he heard his name again. He had a cute smile on his face and winked at Trina, who grinned back.

"And then what are you going to do?"

"Jade said she was going to…" I trailed off, looking around the room for my Regenator friend. "Robbie, is she by the door?" Robbie half-walked, half-limped over to the exit and looked outside.

"Nope."

"Then where is she?"

Robbie shrugged.

_Yes, of course you weren't paying attention because you were obviously so captivated by my sister's beauty_. "Oh, dang." I reached up and felt for the earpiece; pressing buttons wildly, wondering why the guys hadn't been saying anything for the past few minutes. Trina watched with a curious expression.

Suddenly, André and Beck's voices exploded in my head.

"Tori! Robbie! Can you hear us?"

"Good grief you guys!" I jumped up in shock and Robbie whipped his head around, almost banging it against the side of the doorframe. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry, but this is important," André's voice was buzzing and static-y. "There seems to be an Electrictor around the area who keeps cutting off your communication with us."

"Where's Jade?"

"She's running down some halls, can you guys get to her?" Beck's voice came frantically.

"Okay, send Robbie the pictures and stuff," I replied swiftly. "We need to get to Jade. If we don't stay together, we won't be able to complete our goal." I pulled Trina over to Robbie, where she beamed a smile that would hypnotize any man without the use of her caliber powers. Robbie's mouth hung open, but he quickly collected himself. "You sure you can handle this?" I asked him.

"I…I think so." Robbie suddenly went cross-eyed because he was looking at the pictures in his contact lenses. Trina nodded knowingly and put her hand on my shoulder as I grabbed Robbie's.

"One…two…three…"

There was a huge cough of green smoke, and Robbie started choking like a maniac. I didn't feel my intestines trying to squeeze out of my body, so either I was getting used to this or we hadn't moved at all.

"We're still in my room," Trina said, voicing my thoughts.

Robbie had curled up in a ball, and he was crying.

"What's wrong now?" I said, kneeling next to him as he tried to wipe his face.

"Oh gosh, it feels like my heart exploded or something," he sniffled like a little boy. I sighed.

"Does your head hurt too?" Trina asked, suddenly concerned.

"So much," he whispered.

"How are you guys doing? You haven't gotten any closer to Jade's location," André voiced.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," I replied harshly, helping Trina bring Robbie to his feet. "Robbie is having trouble dimensioning."

"What? Why?"

"You tell me!"

"Have him do it again," André sounded slightly panicked, and I started hearing Beck screaming for Jade in the background. "What's wrong now, man?" he asked. "WHAT?"

"Robbie, try again—" I tried to say.

"Hold on, guys. Don't move. Archelaus's location is changing rapidly as we speak. But I have no idea how he's doing it, unless…oh god…" André's voice trailed off, and suddenly I heard Beck explode even though he wasn't directly talking to me.

"JADE! GET OUT OF THERE RIGHT NOW!"

"What's wrong?" I asked urgently.

"Robbie needs to dimension now," André said over Beck's loud voice, which was overtaken by sobs. "Get to Jade immediately."

"Is something happening to her?"

"Not exactly. Just do as I say. Oh god, oh god…"

Robbie was holding onto Trina's shoulder, and I grabbed his arm, not even needing to speak but he seemed to understand that we needed to dimension now. He shook his head, licking his lips.

"I can't."

"Try."

There was another burst of smoke, but after it cleared, we were in the same room. Robbie was on the ground, his eyes squeezed shut and he looked like he was in serious pain.

"Why can't you do it?" I screamed at him.

"He doesn't have his powers because they got sucked out of him," Trina said as Robbie passed out completely.

"How do you not have them? Who could possibly—"

_Archelaus_.

"But Archelaus was nowhere near us when we fought those calibers downstairs," I said slowly.

"The signal was cut off," André butted in. "He must've gone down and taken Robbie's powers, which was why he was all sick earlier. Either that or the power of another Dimensioner. And now Archelaus himself is jumping around the building. It's impossible to track a set location on him now.

"You guys need to find Jade. She turned off her earpieces and we can't communicate with her. Beck is afraid that he's going to meet up with her and—HOLY CHIZ!"

Suddenly, everything went silent.

"Guys? Beck? André?"

There was a static noise, and I could barely make out the voice of André. It sounded like he was struggling to hold something, and I was scared that Archelaus had made his way towards them.

"Beck, calm down! Don't break it or we'll lose connection!"

"JADE! JADE! Gosh dangit, do something!"

Then André voiced my worst fear.

"Find Jade, you guys! Archelaus is with her!"

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Jade's POV

The room was bare, except for a desk at the other end, and the huge window similar to the one in Trina's room. The door slammed shut behind me and I whipped around, grabbing the handle and pulling, finding that I was locked in.

I completely forgot that I could've contacted André or Beck in my abrupt state of panic as I heard something rustling by the window. Hurrying over, I looked up at the ceiling and saw the array of exposed pipes, crisscrossing back and forth. I bet if I had tried, I could've jumped up and hid in them. But I was more concerned about who was in the room with me, if anyone was.

Suddenly, a cloud of green appeared in front of me that looked very similar to Robbie's dimensioning cloud. I stopped, listening to more bangs as the clouds appeared all around me in their own separate bubbles.

"Robbie?" I asked as it cleared slowly.

Dubiously, I took a step forward, but just then, something dropped down from the rafters onto my back and I collapsed under the weight. Twisting and turning as something wrenched on the collar of my shirt, pushing me with my stomach up and I stared at the person on top of me.

There could only be one identity of him.

Archelaus.

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**Whoa... O_O They better watch it. **

**More stuff that's happened in the previous chapters will be explained, unless you already figured it out.**

**Okay. Bye for now!**


	16. Alone

**I noticed that a lot of you guys seem extremely worried about Cat. I wish I could tell you _exactly _what happened to her, but that would give away too much unfortunately, so why don't you just read the chapter first, and then my author's note at the bottom? Okay, good.**

**Warning: Contains some violence.**

**Thank you very much to everyone who reviewed: SkyeVenomatic, mbj2323, BelletheWickedWitch, Kittkatt11, heythere, Let'sjustsay.97, and CanadianPianoMan! :D**

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CHAPTER 15  
Jade's POV

"Hello. Surprised to see me?" Archelaus slapped his hand across my face and my head jerked away in response. He didn't look anything like I'd expected; I'd always thought him to look big and scary, but I bet I looked the part more than he did.

His brown hair was combed neatly to the side, not a single bit of stubble left on his face. He was wearing thin glasses that made him seem extremely nerdy and not the least bit terrifying. He had long legs but a thin torso and arms; even his slap to my face didn't hurt all that much. How could someone like this manage to make most calibers run in fear or take down an entire government single-handedly?

"Get away from me," I growled as his hands wrapped around my neck, choking me.

And we dimensioned together.

I felt the hard concrete slam against my stomach. I had no idea if we were still in the same base or if we had gone somewhere else. Trying to turn on my earpiece, Archelaus grabbed my hand and forced it down onto the ground.

"No no no, we can't have you doing that. It'll ruin the fun."

_What fun? Maybe for you_. I rolled my hips backwards, knocking him off of me for a brief moment and getting up in the next second. But he tackled me and we dimensioned again.

Before I could gather my thoughts, Archelaus was nowhere around me and I turned on the earpieces right away. Beck's voice was the first one I registered.

"You're still in the base, Jade; Archelaus is dimensioning to different rooms on the other floors. We're sending someone to come and help you. Don't let him touch you or he can absorb your Regenator powers and use them for himself."

"No problem."

Archelaus appeared in front of me and I launched my fist towards his face. He twisted my arm before it connected and we jumped. Somehow, while we were in mid-dimension, things turned around as we arrived at our new destination, I ended up punching myself in the face.

I reeled back in surprise and shock, and Archelaus took his chance to rip the earpieces out of my ears while I was momentarily distracted. My boyfriend's calming voice disappeared.

"No cheating allowed," Archelaus whispered as he held my arm down and took out the back-up piece as well. My head was spinning and I struggled to get out of his tight grip. Finally he stood up on his own, still holding on to me. "Don't move, Miss West. I have many things to discuss with you."

I felt myself being squeezed to death and we landed in a fancy-looking office I assumed was his. Lying on the floor, I looked up and saw Archelaus pacing around me, a menacing smile covering his lips.

"You might be wondering why I've brought you up here," he began.

"You hurt my boyfriend and killed my best friend," I spat.

"Ah yes, I keep forgetting that Mr. Oliver was your boyfriend. He was quite a good Trigger, let me tell you." Archelaus put his fingers together and closed his eyes. "And you said your best friend? Who might that be?"

"Cat. Cat Valentine."

"The Predicter?" Archelaus's eyes snapped open.

I nodded as he got closer, towering over my body and glaring pitifully at me.

"Did you know that I originally planned on having her in my Rebellion, but I eventually decided against it. Mr. Michael and his Enkéfalos were a much better option, not to mention more accurate."

_Every single one of Cat's predictions came true. She was never wrong or off_.

"Unfortunately we had to terminate Miss Valentine. What a shame, she seemed like a very talented soul."

The anger erupted inside of me like a volcano, and it was impossible for me to control in the heat of the moment. I lunged out with my arms to grab his legs but he jumped out of the way.

"Oh, cocky now, aren't we? Well let me tell you something: you've only been getting along on luck."

Archelaus disappeared and I whipped my head around wildly, trying to figure out where he had gone. Suddenly, something extremely heavy landed on my back and for a second I thought it had broken my spine.

He bent down towards my head; I could feel his cold breath on the side of my face. "You think that you could just _walk _into this base, get past my _trained_ security, and un-trigger my right-hand girl into _forgetting_ that she works for me? No. You are wrong. Very, _very _wrong."

I felt him hit the side of my head and he dimensioned again so I couldn't retaliate. Archelaus appeared in front of me this time, crouching so I could get a good look at his face.

"Just for starters, Miss West, I sent one of my own Dimensioners to find your little trio and bring you into my base. Your friend didn't do a dang thing. Did you not notice that the smoke was a different color?"

Blue. It was blue, not Robbie's shade of green. I didn't think it was such a big deal then, but apparently it was.

"Hmm, I guess you did actually notice but thought nothing of it. I can tell by that stupid look on your face." Archelaus sneered and started stroking my cheek. I swatted him away, forcing myself up on my elbows before collapsing. _What is wrong with me_?

"That was actually my best Dimensioner, Springer, who brought you into the base. Just think about. What are the odds you'll manage to get in just from a description? Tsk, tsk, tsk. It is quite obvious you dropped out of high school."

I growled, expressing my anger.

"In the first hallway you came across, you managed to 'take down' four calibers, but then you discover that there's only three bodies and your friend Robbie suddenly starts acting like he needs to puke up his guts. Do you know why that is?

"I was that fourth caliber that disappeared when before you tried to count the bodies. I stole his powers without him realizing it and used them to disappear so you couldn't catch me, and he was too weak to remember what I looked like." Archelaus grinned and I scowled at him. "What, you don't believe me?"

He vanished and materialized on top of my left arm. I heard it snap as he jumped slightly, pulling the broken limb towards my body.

"And as for Trina, well, not everything lasts forever. Such a disappointment, she was everything a man could possibly dream of." Archelaus seemed to stare off in the distance before returning his attention to me. "So why am I telling you all of this? It's not like you're going to be able to tell anyone else once I'm through with you. Absolutely not. I'm going to teach you not to mess with the man who's trying to help the race of calibers become dominant one day."

"You animal," I snarled.

Archelaus slipped away. I spun onto my back, hiding my arm close in my chest. Flipping around to stand up, I looked around wildly for the door and started charging towards it.

Just then, he came out of nowhere, whacking me in the face and I staggered on my feet. He was gone in the next instant. _This is going to be a lot harder than I thought_. Not moving, I stooped low and waited for his next attack.

Every sound of rustling paper caused me to jump in surprise, but it turned out to be the air conditioning making the noises. Keeping my guard up, I took a step forward and he came behind me, throwing his arm around my throat and tossing me backwards.

I went flying across the room into the giant bookcase. Crashing heavily into it, I sent the entire structure toppling over with a loud crash. Books fell all over, burying me under a tide of dust and bound papers.

Struggling to get out, I used my good arm to shove aside the objects as I made my way to the top. Archelaus was already there, beaming in excitement. I swung my fist, pretending to hit his face, but using my other hand to launch into his stomach.

The sharp pain spread through my fingers as I had used my half-broken arm, but seeing the look of sheer surprise on his face as he cringed was enough for me. I jumped down just as the cloud of smoke emerged.

I straightened my left arm, hearing the pop as it healed back into place, and got ready to fight. The air in front of my face was suddenly full of a green shadowy glow, and I pushed my hand forward.

Archelaus caught it, hurling me straight up. I twisted as I reached the highest point, and he was suddenly right next to me, grabbing me in mid-air and sending me down towards the ground with extra force.

I hit the concrete floor face-first and blacked out.

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Beck's POV

André had tied me down to a swivel chair but adjusted it so I could read our friends' stats and locations. He was also now wearing reflective glasses in case I lost my self-control and tried to trigger him.

Jade's body was blinking red all over, indicating that she was extremely stressed out about something. I could barely hear André shouting instructions for her over my own thoughts.

Robbie no longer had his dimensioning powers, at least for a short while. Archelaus had taken the opportunity to suck them out of him while he wasn't looking when they fought the four calibers down in the first hallway. We didn't know that because we had lost connection for about five seconds, and apparently some very crucial events occurred in that tiny time frame.

We had no way of getting to Jade anymore. We had been relying so heavily on Robbie that we never thought about what could happen if he was out of commission, such as now. I wanted to scream and rip my hair out, but I had to stay calm in case Jade was listening, but I seriously doubted that at this point.

I quickly took in her location, which was in one of the many offices, and also with Archelaus.

"You're still in the base, Jade; Archelaus is just dimensioning to different rooms on different floors. We're sending the others to come and get you. Don't let him touch you or he can absorb your Regenator powers," I tried to assure her, knowing that half of it was a lie—who could possibly be able to catch up to them?

Then Jade started dimensioning because Archelaus was holding onto her. Her stats spiked significantly, and André looked incredibly worried as they moved from room to room.

Suddenly, a loud beeping noise filled the air, followed by a static buzz.

Archelaus had broken the earpieces belonging to Jade.

Now we couldn't even communicate with her. How was she going to get out of this?

Archelaus didn't look it, but he was a _very_ strong caliber, and also an excellent fighter. I hoped Jade didn't underestimate him too much, but then again, he also had the new powers of being able to disappear and reappear wherever he wanted. That would be enough to confuse anyone.

I watched in horror as Jade's spine suddenly arched forward, almost looking like it was going to snap. Her left forearm broke in half, and then she was being pelted with heavy objects all over causing dents and bruises in her skin.

André was frowning and biting on his lip. He didn't look very comfortable.

But at least my Jade was fighting back. I could tell because sometimes her adrenaline level rose, probably because she had accomplished getting back at Archelaus.

And then she got thrown up into the air, smashing back into the floor with such force it broke part of her skull. The hum of her brain stopping choked me to death, but I knew in a while she would recover within minutes.

I was shaking violently and trying not to cry. I had to be strong for her. She was a Regenator; she would be able to get out of this. André came over and patted my shoulder, but I brushed him off.

_Please don't give up, Jade. Please don't die_.

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Jade's POV

When I woke up, there was a searing pain swamping my entire head. I went to touch it, but Archelaus's hands got in the way. Blinking through blood and sweat, I noticed that he had me on my knees, holding onto the collar of my shirt, facing the gigantic window.

Archelaus pushed me forward and I couldn't stop myself from breaking through the glass. The shards ripped into my shoulders and chest, blood soaking my clothes. I gasped when I saw that we were thirteen stories off the concrete ground. The pieces of crystal fell off the edge; I couldn't even see them hit the bottom.

"You scared yet, Jade?" Archelaus laughed.

_No_.

He nudged me closer to the cliff. I wanted to lean back, but he kept me straight, being the only support I had to keep from falling.

"Let's see if you can survive a fall like this."

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**Hopefully that wasn't too rushed because I wanted to get you guys a chapter before I went on vacation. :)**

**And here is my little note about Cat: I did mention her in this chapter, but also in the prologue, if you go back and read the first part...maybe you will notice some tiny details that could give you more info on her...if you can figure it out. ;)**

**So how many of you do think Jade could survive if she fell? I mean, she has her healing powers and stuff...but even the most 'unbreakable' things can fall apart when they drop 130-feet onto solid concrete. }:) Hahaha...you will find out soon enough...**


	17. Welcome to a Wasteland

**Okay, so I had some questions on Archelaus's power in the last chapter. Read this first, and I'll give you a more-detailed explanation at the bottom. :)**

**Sorry if this is kind of just 'pointless, random action' but I couldn't think of any other way to write it. And I'm starting school on Monday (oh joy) so I wanted to get out as many chapters as possible before that time comes. **

**I hope you like it anyway.**

**Thanks to all the reviewers: mbj2323, SkyeVenomatic, BelletheWickedWitch, heythere, and CanadianPianoMan!**

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CHAPTER 16  
Jade's POV

"Step away from the edge and put the girl down."

Archelaus turned himself and me around towards the doorway of the room. Four people, none of which I really recognized, were standing there, looking like they meant business.

One of the men, who was bald in the front of his head but had hair standing up on the ends almost like a clown's wig, had his arms crossed in front of his hippie-colored vest, his face wrinkled into a grimace.

"Sikowitz?" Archelaus said in disbelief, throwing me roughly to the ground. I landed on my hands, glass slicing into my palms, which I ignored, not wanting to get up and stay out of the action happening.

The head of Agency was actually here? So then the three others must be his closest in-commands. Wow, this was kind of cool, I had to admit.

"Of course," Sikowitz replied, taking a step forward. "Surprised to see us?"

Archelaus looked at the ground suddenly, growling, "Don't try and pull any tricks on me, Lane. Or any of you, for that matter. You mess with me and I'll kick the girl out the window."

That made me freeze up as I stared at the people who were my supposed rescuers. If they really were from Agency, then they'd be smart enough to listen to Archelaus, and I wouldn't have to worry about dying anytime soon.

Besides Sikowitz was a tall Caucasian man with a beard and thin glasses, his hair tinged with gray and receding. Behind them was a plump woman with dark skin, her hair frizzled and pulled up into a bun, and next to her was a man with slightly lighter skin and a smirk on his face, the hair on his head short and thin.

When I looked at that man, his eyes connected with mine and I suddenly felt myself calming down significantly. He winked at me, and I quickly figured out that he was Lane Alexander, second-in-command to Sikowitz. Lane was a highly trained Empather, a caliber who could sense and even control others' emotions, which was probably why Archelaus had snapped at him.

"Please step away from the girl," Sikowitz repeated.

"No." Archelaus was still close enough to grab me if he wanted.

"None of us want to play your games, Archelaus." Sikowitz clicked his fingers and an exact replica appeared next to him. "We're here to do what we should've done nine years ago. We're taking you in. You and your Rebellion will be nothing after we're through with you."

"So? I've got an entire _army _working for me. And you just have what, three other people who are like, forty years old? Please." Archelaus snorted, still looking at the ground.

"Oh really? Eikner and Helen, show him."

Helen was the woman I assumed, and she drew in a very large breath, so big I felt like I was being pulled forward and puffed out her cheeks, storing all the air. _She must be a Vortexer_, I thought.

Eikner, the last man, suddenly shrunk his neck down, his arms and legs becoming shorter. His face contorted as its features were warped. Within seconds, he had morphed to become an Archelaus look-alike. _Whoa_.

"There's one of you, and four of us, each with our own caliber powers."

"My ability is equal to all of yours."

"Then come and fight us, old man," Sikowitz taunted, although it was clear that he was older than Archelaus.

"Try me."

Without another word, the top four calibers of our time ran towards Archelaus like a pack of lions. Sikowitz and his twin went in two different directions, approaching us at opposite angles. Lane was coming for me, his eyes glowing red as he fueled on the emotions of his friends. Eikner shaped into a very large man who looked a lot like one of Archelaus's own Strengthers and joined the attack.

Helen let loose her stream of air, but controlled it so well that it only aimed at Archelaus. The other window pane behind us shattered, Archelaus seeming like he was about to panic, but he smiled and yelled:

"Catch me if you can, suckers!"

It happened so fast that I had no idea what was going on.

There was a puff of green smoke where Archelaus was standing and I reached out with my arm, latching onto his leg just in time. The four calibers moved at lightning speed, but still weren't fast enough to grab Archelaus or me.

I dimensioned with this madman for the last time.

And I knew for a fact that we were not going to end up in this base again.

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When we landed, the first thing I noticed was how cold it was.

My eyes were closed and I landed face-first in something that was freezing and wet. Upon opening them, I saw the blinding white snowfield we were in. The wind started blowing, and I ducked down, feeling how raw it was on my exposed skin.

I didn't know where Archelaus was; if he was even still here.

Rubbing my runny nose, the breeze had picked up, causing my limbs to shake violently with the cold. My clothes were ripped and had holes (courtesy of Archelaus) and the only thing I could think about was staying warm. Sure I could heal if I ended up dying of cold, but if no one could find me, I'd be stuck here for the rest of my life, and that could be a while.

I curled up into a ball, trying to preserve my body heat before I passed out.

There was a bang and I looked up.

Archelaus was staggering around the moor, looking heavily confused and holding his head, screaming out curse words that even had me flinching. He looked around, suddenly spotting me.

_Crap_.

I got up and started running, but my boots were not meant for the snow and I ended up wading through the drift like a zombie, keeping my arms out for balance. Archelaus was leaping around like a prancing reindeer, which I found extremely amusing despite the situation.

He was faster than I was and tackled me to the ground. My face smashed against some sort of rock, snow drowning my mouth and nose. Archelaus flipped me over, his eyes burning with a terrible intensity.

"I should've done this a long time ago," he growled, placing his entire hand on my face.

Immediately, I grabbed his wrist and tried to push him off, but then there was an odd feeling where his fingertips touched my skin, almost like he was trying to pull something out of me.

I dropped my hand, kneeling there like an idiot as the strong force grew, like my life was being sucked out. When Archelaus was fully satisfied, he dropped me, and I saw the bruises and small cuts on his face healing as he used my Regenator powers.

So I guess that means I don't have my ability anymore…?

As if to answer that question, Archelaus launched his heavy boot towards my face. I fell backwards, warm blood filling my mouth like a faucet on full blast. I spit it out, red staining the fluffy white snow.

"Perfect. Now I can kill you," Archelaus said. "I may not have the dimensioning ability anymore, but who needs that when you can heal from any physical injury sustained?"

Realizing how dire my situation now was, I started crawling away, my fingers digging through the flurry. Archelaus inched closer to me, his features gleaming with sadistic joy.

Acting like I was going to throw the snow in his face, he ducked, and I used to my advantage and kicked out with my foot. It caught him square in the stomach and he fell backwards. Struggling to stand, I started to run in a random direction again.

_Oh boy, I'm so glad no one else to see me_…I thought, lifting my knees abnormally high and trotting through the frozen fluff. Archelaus seemed to have disappeared yet again, and I stopped after getting a good look at my surroundings, observing the sudden drop of scene.

Suddenly, something crashed into my back, sending me sprawling. My nose cracked when it hit the ground, my vision being filled with snow and blood. Archelaus clamped his hand across my mouth, trying to suffocate me as he pushed my face deeper into the snow.

My head was burning cold, the wind roaring in my ears. I tried sucking in a breath, but was met by a mouthful of snow, freezing its way down my throat.

Reaching back with my hands, I grabbed what I thought was his head, jabbing my fingers into any hole that I could find. Archelaus roared angrily, backing up briefly and I scrambled away.

Blood was dripping steadily onto my shirt without my ability to heal. I wiped it away with my sleeve. I couldn't win a physical fight with Archelaus. I had to find another way around this.

_Where the heck are my friends and those four calibers who ran Agency all those years ago_? My arms hung limply by my sides, my legs wobbling strings of spaghetti. Puffs of cold air rose in front of my face, blocking my vision so I turned my head slightly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Archelaus. It was probably a really bad thing for us to be wearing such dark colors, seeing how much it stood out in the white snow. Before he could attack me, I turned around and threw my body into his.

We went crashing down, starting to roll over each other as I understood why it had looked like there was a drop: we were on some sort of decline slope and now falling down it. Archelaus seemed to sense the same thing and grabbed onto my arm to keep me from getting too far away from him.

We tumbled through the snowdrift like a pair of fighting cats. I twisted every which way, hearing a snap and the hot, piercing pain when my right arm broke under Archelaus's heavy grip and the piles of snow raining after us.

My left ankle cracked as well, and I could also tell that Archelaus was breaking too—but at least he could heal.

We finally stopped at the bottom. There was a cliff a few more yards away; I didn't even want to think about how high off the ground we could be now. Archelaus was lying in a contorted heap near me, his face showing pain.

My breathing was shallow and labored. I looked at my arm, seeing the dark red stain forming on my sleeve. Gingerly, I poked my ankle and sucked in a breath, leaning back on my palms and sighing.

Hearing some pops and snaps, I looked up and saw Archelaus limping heavily towards me, his clothes much more ripped than mine. There was blood on him, but he didn't seem to be in so much pain anymore.

"It ends here," he seethed, sending his boot into my stomach.

Air whooshed out of my lungs as I was sent backwards, my hands waving wildly in the air in an attempt to stop his attacks. His fists rained down on my head, knocking me out at one point.

When I came to it, I was lying in a bloody mess on the edge of the cliff, almost unable to remember anything through the pain. Glancing over, I saw the icy water lapping hundreds of feet below at the bottom, the crashes against rock thundering in the air.

I couldn't move my body at all.

There was dried blood on my face and clothes, more seeping out from other areas. My entire left leg stuck out awkwardly, bent at the ankle and kneecap. Trying to move my other limbs, I found that they were very slow to respond and injured in some way.

Archelaus was watching me as I assessed my body.

"First time is always the hardest." He nudged me against my will until I was only inches away from the cliff. "It just gets better from there." Archelaus tilted his head down at me, "Now promise me one thing, Jade."

I glared at him with all my might.

"You won't stop screaming until you hit the water."

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**So about Archelaus's Augmenter powers: They are not the same as Rogue's (from X-Men) where she absorbs the power from anyone she touches. Augmenters can control how, who, and when they take the power from their victims. Archelaus could touch Jade because he didn't want her powers right at that moment. Also, they can only 'hold' up to one ability at once, and Archelaus saw that Robbie's was more useful at the time than Jade's was. Sorry for not making that clear in the beginning. **

**Another cliffy...sorry. I think there's maybe one more. And then I'm done with those. :)**

**I was going to put some 'fun' facts about this story...but I'm kind of busy at the moment so I'll do it next chapter (don't you want to know what the original idea for this story was? ;). Okay...later guys!**


	18. Final Fight

**Ta-da! Sorry this took so long, but apparently this scene was originally planned out a different way, but I thought it didn't make sense so I had to spend time 're-creating' the scene. ****Unfortunately, there probably won't a new chapter for a while because my school starts. But I did get my mac back, so I'll just write during my boring classes. XD**

**And hey! What about Victorious being 'cancelled?' D: What am I going to do with all my next story ideas now?**

**Thanks to all the reviewers: heythere, SkyeVenomatic, mbj2323, BelletheWickedWitch, CanadianPianoMan, and Jeremy Shane. :)**

**Enjoy! Hopefully it's not too unrealistic. **

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CHAPTER 17  
Tori's POV

The words echoed in my head.

_Find Jade. Archelaus is with her_.

I looked at my sister, who was trying unsuccessfully to wake Robbie back up. She looked at me, her features contorting with worry. Trina may not have the power to read people's minds, but she knew exactly what was going on just by the expression on my face.

"What's up, Tori?"

"Jade. We need to get to her. Now."

"Is Archelaus after her?"

I nodded, unable to speak. Trina came over and put her hand on my shoulder. "It's going to be okay, Tor. Your friend…she's probably not going down without a fight. Then again, Archelaus won't either. But have faith. We'll find her before anything too bad happens."

"How? Robbie can't dimension, so how are we going to get to her now?"

Trina bit her lip, thinking.

"Where is Jade, you guys?" I asked André.

My friend's voice came back shaky and unconfident. "She's jumping around the base with Archelaus, who is using Robbie's powers. They're fighting each other too. Oh boy, this is not good…"

"Do you think we could catch up to them?"

"Hold on. Wait…what's happening?"

"André? Beck?"

Suddenly, there was some loud shouting that sounded a lot like Beck. André started screaming back at him, and I stood there, waiting for someone to say something directly to me.

"Jade and Archelaus aren't in the base anymore. They've disappeared to—oh my—Europe, according to my map. I'm not sure how accurate it is anymore, though."

"_Europe_? Why are they there?"

"I'm not sure. Jade's earpieces are gone and broken, so I can't listen in to their conversations. The only thing I know for sure is that they're on some snowy mountains and no longer in America. Wow. This escalated quickly."

"Then what do we do?" I practically screeched.

"I…I don't know."

All of a sudden, Trina grabbed my shoulder, shaking me slightly and causing me to look up at her face. "Is there anyway I can talk to André myself?" she asked.

"Yeah. Take this." I unscrewed the earpiece in my left ear and tossed it to her.

Trina put it in place and started talking immediately. "I think I have an idea. But can you like, send me a picture of the location where Jade and Archelaus are?"

"Yeah. Robbie's got contact lens that I can direct photos to."

"Perfect."

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Jade's POV

_No promises_.

Archelaus grabbed both my arms, ignoring my scream of pain when he touched my broken one, pushing me until I was fully hanging off the edge, him being the only reason I wasn't about to fall to my doom.

"What are you doing?" I whispered, too weak to raise my voice even more.

"People always tell the truth when they're in the face of danger," Archelaus stated, not even looking fazed that he was supporting my entire body and was hunched over like an old man.

"What truth do you want?" I spat. My arms were already starting to hurt, especially since Archelaus held them in an extremely tight grip. But of course I didn't want to say anything or he might let go of me. "I thought you were Archelaus. Don't you already know everything?"

"Ah, yes. You are a very smart girl. Of course, I have a lot of answers. But what I'm interested in hearing are your questions."

_Questions? What kind of bad guy wants _questions?

"I have no questions."

"Really?" His hand squeezed my right arm lightly, and I yelped, digging my fingernails into his skin. "Hmm, careful there, Miss. You don't want to accidently make me drop you, right?"

_You wouldn't_.

He stared right into my blue eyes, his showing no mercy or regret. "Yes, I would."

In that same moment, he let go of my arms.

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Tori's POV

Trina had retrieved one of the contact lens from the unconscious Robbie and was now sitting at the desk near the window, making a call on the telephone while I stood there like an idiot and watched closely.

"Yes, Springer. I need you to get up here in my office right now. I don't care. Rabbit can take care of Archelaus if he needs it. This is very important right now. If you don't hurry up your lazy butt and don't get here within the next five seconds, so help me I will hypnotize you into thinking that you are a woman."

There was a bang and a man who looked drunk was suddenly standing in the middle of the room as the blue smoke around him cleared. His brown, bloodshot eyes were darting back and forth between Trina, Robbie's body, and me.

"Hey, who are—"

"I'm over here, Springer," Trina said, waving her hand wildly.

But Springer was ignoring her, slouching over to me. I stiffened but did not move when he came to stand three feet in front of me. "You're one of those girls Archelaus was talkin' about, huh? The one who threatened to take down his kingdom—"

WHUMP.

Springer fell forward on his face before he could even finish his sentence. Trina was sitting on top of him, looking extremely upset. I backed up in surprise, wanting to stay out of whatever was going on.

Trina twisted Springer onto his back so he was looking straight up at her, a mixture of confusion and fury on his face. She grabbed the sides of his head, forcing him to make eye contact with her.

"There are no girls who want to take down Archelaus," Trina said in a slow but determined tone. "_You _want to help take him down. He killed your entire family, and you're looking for revenge."

Springer blinked and Trina got off of him, watching intently. He shook his head, then noticed Trina and gave her a salute.

"How will I see the location he's in, madam?" he asked politely.

"With this." Trina held out the contact lens and Springer accepted it, placing it inside his own eye.

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Jade's POV

Luckily, I was fast and grabbed the rocky, cold edge with my fingertips. Using my left arm, I lifted my elbow and propped myself up, so I didn't have to put so much pressure on my right side. The pain was eating me alive but yet I still managed to put my focus somewhere else.

"Well, things are going by a lot quicker than I originally would've hoped, but that's okay. Either way, you're still going to die, Jade. You don't have your powers…you're friends don't know you're here…boy, you're in a great position, aren't you?" Archelaus laughed, the noise pounding through my eardrums.

"Heck, I don't even know where we are. I just pictured a cold, barren place in my mind and used the last of the dimensioning powers to get here."

_You sick-minded pyscho_.

"Anyway, I'll just cut to the chase, since I don't think you'll be able to hold on for too long." His boot rested on my right fingers, not applying any pressure but just letting me know that at any moment he could step down and push me off.

"Why are you doing this?" I forced out in a tight voice.

"What? Killing you or starting Rebellion?"

"B-Both." My teeth started chattering, and I had no idea how long I would be able to hold myself up. Sure, I was pretty strong, but this was in a frozen wasteland, and half of my body was broken from rolling down a hill and fighting a man who stole my healing powers.

"Well, obviously I am killing you because you pose as a threat to me and my plan in giving calibers world domination. Don't you want that, Jade? Instead of having to hide in fear of humans finding us out, we will rule them, not the other way around.

"Their governments are afraid of ours, in case you weren't aware. That's why, for the first time in history, they all came together to address our Agency dozens of years ago to try and create peace between us.

"Calibers are growing in the numbers. We've been born from an accidental mutation to certain human chromosomes. We don't have a cure; we're a threat, according to humans, anyway.

"I'm trying to make this world a better place…for people like us. Sure, you're going to need to make sacrifices, but that's a given. You can't get anywhere without them. Isn't that what your boyfriend did for you? Triggered himself and you for six years?"

_Don't talk about Beck, you worthless pig_.

"That must've so terrible for the both of you. And you're calling me the bad guy? Well, tell me Jade, why did Beck want you to forget about him anyway?"

I stopped in my struggled to gain a better grip on the cliff. Beck never did tell me the reason why. Eventually I did remember him and Cat, so that must've meant that he didn't want me to be out of it forever, but why _did_ he do it in the first place?"

"While you think about that, I want to let you know, that unfortunately, your boyfriend isn't ever going to see you again. You two have gotten on my nerves more than anyone else ever has, which is saying quite a lot. At least I got rid of your best friend, Cat. Those experiments we put her through would even kill a Regenator like you." He cackled, sounding like a dying crow.

_No…no he did not just say that_.

I tried to reach up and grab his leg, but he stepped down hard on my fingers. I heard them crack and pulled away, realizing too late that I had let go completely. My left arm almost wrenched out of its socket as I dangled there, holding on with only one hand.

"Uh-uh Jade, only I get to touch you. Not the other way around," Archelaus said, shaking his head.

Forcing myself not to look down, my half-frozen fingers were slowly starting to slide off. The panic was apparent in my features now: shaking, teeth chattering, breath huffing.

Archelaus leaned over, putting his knee down on my anchor hand. I snarled as he started to crush it, listening to the small pops and crunches. "Nighty night, Jade."

I swung my broken arm up, my fingers snagging in the collar of his shirt. Archelaus shouted as I pulled him down, his hands grabbing at my face in an attempt to pry me off.

He was slipping too, his legs being the only part of his body still safely on the ground. Trying to reach over with my left hand, I felt a short burst of energy surging through my body and I grabbed the back pocket of his pants, shoving him off the edge.

"HEY!" Archelaus yelled as he went off.

My fingernails dug into the soft surface, panicking when I couldn't find a hold. In that same moment, I brought up my free right hand and managed to keep my body up, even though it hurt more than anything else in my life.

But Archelaus had also found another area to grab to keep from falling completely.

My leg.

The weight shattered my femur in half, my screams echoing off the rocks.

"Once again, you're wrong that I can be taken down so easily," he snarled up at me, digging his fingers into my shin.

I couldn't breathe. I was suddenly starting to gain feeling everywhere on my body. Did that mean I was getting my Regenator powers again? My broken fingers started straightening out, and the only pain I felt there was the exhaustion of holding on.

"Then maybe you'll go down if I go with you," I whispered.

Without thinking twice, I pushed myself away from the edge.

Archelaus panicked in the moment, releasing my leg as I dropped off the cliff. He fell at a much faster rate than I did, and it was almost like I was just floating there.

I closed my eyes and waited to hit the water.

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**Okay, this is the last big cliffhanger. I PROMISE.**

**So here are the 'fun' facts I promised last time (see, I can keep some promises :D):**

**-Originally the idea of this story was to completely copy _Push _(the movie that inspired this). For example:**

**-Jade was Chris Evan's character  
-Tori was Dakota Fanning's character  
-Beck was Camilla Belle's character  
-André was Djimon Hounsou's character**

**-Just to name a few of them. Also, if anyone is interested in actually watching _Push_ the link to the first part of the movie is can be found with this on YouTube (the rest of the parts are by the same user): ****/watch?v=B4FWustbrI4**

**-I changed that idea of the story because I wanted to incorporate some X-Men, and also have the possibility of creating a series, since _Push _didn't have a sequel, my stories could (which seriously might happen)**

**-The name Archelaus is Greek for 'master of the people,' which is appropriate because of his character XD. ****Enkéfalos, the device run by Mr. Michael, is also a Greek word, and it means 'brain.' The reason why I chose this was because ****Enkéfalos was inspired by X-Men's Cerebro, which means 'brain' in Spanish :)**

**********-I gave Jade the Regenator powers because Liz Gillies is my favorite of the Victorious cast, and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) was my favorite of the X-Men series**

**********-Robbie's dimensioning power was not only inspired by Nightcrawler from X-Men, but also from the movie _Jumper_, where the characters have the same ability**


	19. Work Together, Reap the Reward

**Okay...I have some things to let you all know. **

**One: sorry this chapter did not come sooner. Sophomore year of high school started for me :/ and it's already super boring but I do have a lot of homework and other stuff to finish before I write. **

**Second: I am experiencing extreme continuity problems with these last chapters. As you might know, yes, there will be a sequel, but because of that I am having issues making sure every hint I put in this story works out in the next one. And yeah. It doesn't, which is why I've spent the past few days trying to work out the kinks, but there's just so many of them it's almost impossible at the moment.**

**So if you don't like this chapter, I'm sorry. I was just trying to 'get ready' for the next story, so maybe my focus wasn't as great as it could be. If your really, absolutely hate it, don't worry. I will be re-writing this entire story anyway, so I'll fix it then. **

**Thanks to all the wonderful reviewers: SkyeVenomatic, ABCsoup, PassionIsKey, heythere, BelletheWickedWitch, CandianPianoMan, and every single review from spezria26. :)**

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CHAPTER 18  
Tori's POV

"André, it's in his eye. Send the picture of Jade and Archelaus's location."

"Done."

Springer, his mouth hanging wide open and drool sliding down his chin, suddenly perked up, staring blankly into space when in reality he was examining the snapshots André has sent to the lens.

"Snowy," he commented, licking his lips. "Very barren. Okay. Let's go 'fore it's too late." He held out his arms, Trina grabbing on immediately while I stood, almost terrified to touch him.

Meanwhile, Robbie was now standing somehow, holding onto the wall for support and rubbing his eye with the other hand. He looked and saw the three of us standing in a circle, staring at him awkwardly.

"Hurry up, Robbie!" Trina said impatiently and waving him over.

He trotted over to us, looking up and down his arms like something was amiss before clutching my shoulder and I latched onto Trina.

"You know, I think I have my powers bac—" he began.

We dimensioned in a cloud of blue.

Once we landed, I sprawled into a pile of snow, coughing wildly and feeling the sharp sting of the coldness on my face. It was freezing here. Looking around, Trina was near Springer, petting down stray strands of her hair while Robbie was next to me.

About a few hundred feet in front of us was the end of a cliff, revealing the slightly-obscured beauty of a huge blue lake behind a sheet of fog that was partly covered in ice. I turned around and saw the looming slope, leading up who knows how high.

Then I noticed the spots of blood on the mussed-up snow, leading in a trail towards the edge. Robbie seemed to sight it too, scratching his head as he stood up, almost falling over when the ground collapsed beneath his feet.

Wind biting uncomfortably at my face, I hunched over, saying into my earpiece, "André, Beck, where are they? We've arrived and there's no one else out here but us."

"They're hanging off the edge!" came Beck's extremely panicked and upset voice. "Archelaus is the only things that's keeping Jade from falling! Get to her before he lets go! They're hundreds of feet above the water!"

I squinted forward, trying to see any figures. Because I was trying harder this time, I noted the small smidge of black, originally thinking it was a rock, but it was moving, just barely.

"Oh, crap!" I started running blindly towards the person, tripping over my own feet and swinging my arms to maintain balance. Robbie, who had been listening in his earpiece, came right after me.

"Tor?" I heard Trina's growing-faint voice. Just then, there was a loud grunt and I spun around, seeing Springer on top of her, and I stopped in my tracks.

"You traitor! I know what you're trying to do!" Springer screamed at my sister. "Don't think that just because you got special training means that I'll fall for you stupid little Hypnoser tricks."

"Go, Tori! Don't worry about me!" Trina shouted.

Robbie crashed into my back, not being able to slow down in time. I fell onto my stomach, his body pinning me to the ground. I writhed angrily as he stood up, helping me and apologizing profusely.

"Get to Trina! I've got Jade," I told him, and nodding like a scared puppy, he scampered back to help my sister as I eyed Springer beginning an attack on her.

My ears roared as I struggled to get through the increasing snowdrift and strong wind. I couldn't see when snowflakes began to pound my face, causing my eyes to water and nose to run from the fierce freeze.

I was probably only a hundred feet from the two when something happened that made my heart stop.

Archelaus fell off the edge, meaning that Jade had to go with him.

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The world seemed to come to a standstill as I saw a hand shoot up and grab the ice, knuckles turning the same shade of the freeze. Putting on the biggest surge of energy I could manage, I threw myself into a sprint. I heard an agonized scream that sounded a lot like Jade and tried to go faster.

But I wasn't fast enough.

As I was just ten feet away from my friend, her hand slipped. I improvised in the same second, pushing my feet as hard as possible and leaping into the air almost like I was flying.

Landing on my stomach, I glided along the slick surface. I realized too late that there was no hold for me to grab.

And then it was like everything was happening in slow motion.

My head and shoulders were off the edge, reaching out into empty space. I glanced down, seeing the glimpse of Jade's dropping body, and using my Kinecter powers to stop her in mid-fall.

Her body jerked before remaining still, dangling there limply but safely.

I never thought what I was doing now was possible. I practiced every day after I met Jade, but even still, I wasn't that great, in my opinion. But here I was now, holding up a full-grown woman from plummeting towards water and rock.

My form continued to go over the cliff more and more. Whatever happened, there was no way I could stop myself and still keep Jade safe. Just grabbing her was too much for me, and I wondered how in the world I had even managed it in the first place. The only people who could save me where hundreds of feet away, trying to get out of their own problems.

The burn of cold on my stomach and thighs disappeared; I was practically floating at this point. Archelaus's black frame got smaller and smaller as he nose-dived, frantically spinning in circles to figure a way out.

All of a sudden, green smoke appeared in the corners of my eyes and I felt a strong hand on my left ankle, yanking me backwards and holding me upside-down. I saw underneath the overhang of the cliff: the rocks were jagged and menacing, water dripping from their sharp points.

"I got'cha!" Robbie yelled, hauling me up until ninety-percent of my body was safely on solid ground. But he needed to do something about Jade. Beads of sweat dripped down my face, and I felt like I couldn't hold her any longer. The vicious pull of gravity was winning our fight.

There was a splash from down below, and I knew without looking what had happened. A small smile on my lips, it fueled on my energy to keep Jade steady.

Robbie took a few steps back and ran headlong towards the edge, leaping off as I watched without turning my head. As he started falling, he dimensioned, appearing closer to Jade and reaching for her dangling limbs with expert skill.

His hand wrapped around hers and he dimensioned.

Since she was momentarily gone from my vision, I had to let go. Dropping my head in exhaustion, I took a deep breath, flinching when I inhaled a mouthful of snow.

Robbie materialized with Jade feet away, staggering under her weight before toppling over. I forced myself to go over, just as Trina was jogging over as fast as she could without tripping.

Jade was deathly pale, blood streaking her face and hands. Her limbs were twisted at awkward angles, her clothes ripped and darkened with stains. I felt Trina's arm on my shoulder and fell back into her body as my legs gave out. She held me in her arms as Robbie examined Jade.

"Come on, Tor. Let's get to the hospital."

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Jade's POV

I felt my body jerk as I was falling, and the pressure of stopping was too much for me. I succumbed to the dark, wondering if my body had splattered into millions of pieces when I had hit the water, assuming that's why I felt the great force.

Floating around in the endless world of darkness, I could feel no pain, which was great, of course. There was a small light coming from one end, and I paddled over to it.

The light was coming from a single person dressed in white robes and a golden halo so bright it shadowed their face in the light. Their hands were pressed together in a welcoming stance.

"Hello Jade," the figure addressed in voice I could not distinguish as a man's or woman's.

"Are you an angel coming to take me to heaven? Because I don't think I'd be going there," I said, a little skeptically and realizing how cold it sounded out loud. But it was the truth. Sometimes I got a little carried away when capturing criminals.

"You're not going to heaven."

_Oh, big surprise_.

"Because you're not dead."

"What?" That snapped my head up in shock, but I had to squint because the glow was so strong I could've even look at the person for more than five seconds. Even shielding my eyes did absolutely nothing.

"You can't go to hell unless you're dead, Miss West. Or heaven, for that matter."

"Why am I not dead? I fell like, half a thousand feet into a frozen ocean-lake thing. And I didn't have my healing powers! Of course I have to be dead!" I never thought I'd be arguing about this subject with an angel who was obviously sent from the golden place.

"No. You are technically still alive."

"How?" I demanded answers. "I felt myself hit something hard while I was still conscious. Explain that."

"It was your good friend Tori's doing that you felt, Miss West. She used her Kinecter powers to stop you in mid-drop. You simply felt the backlash of the momentum going in the opposite direction, which put you out of it for a while."

"Tori…saved my life?"

"Indeed."

I was speechless. Of course, I'd trusted Tori and saved her life on numerous accounts, but for some reason never thought that she'd be able to actually return the favor. I always thought of her as a low-esteemed, klutzy, unfocused girl, not that it really concerned me at the time.

"When can I go back to see them all, if I am as you say, 'alive?'"

"Soon. Your body is still recovering. You did take quite a few hits, and especially without your Regenator abilities, it will take a while longer than you'd hope. When it does come back, which should be in about five seconds, everything will speed up and you'll be fine."

_Hold on, I still have some questions for you_…

"Good-bye, Jade. Hopefully I won't see you for a while, but you never know." The figure gave a farewell wave and started getting smaller and smaller as it went away. I had thousands of questions running through my mind, until the light disappeared and darkness fell.

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God knows how much later, I felt myself coming back to reality. The soft noises of beeping and murmuring filled my ears. I began to feel the numbness in my arms and legs fade, being replaced with a dull, painful throb.

The sounds were getting louder, and I could distinguish what people were trying to say, but no matter how hard I tried my eyes just wouldn't open.

"I think she's waking up."

"It's about time."

"Whoa, look at her face!"

In that same moment I heard Robbie (I think it was him) say those words, there was a sudden tightening feeling against my skin, like someone was trying to pull it back together but my body was refusing to cooperate. After a few difficult seconds, the uncomfortable-ness went away.

There was a loud pop and a burning sensation in my left leg so strong I wanted to scream but my mouth remained shut. It was like someone was welding the bones in my leg back together with a blowtorch, and through it all my eyes snapped open.

"Ha! She's awake!" Tori's relieved voice came first.

"Jade, baby, how are you feeling?" Beck's face hovered inches away from mine, his brown eyes looking very concerned and almost frightened. "Can you hear us?"

I blinked a few times, gazing at each person surrounding me. Tori, Beck and Robbie. I knew for a fact that André and Trina were also in the room, because I had heard their voices earlier, but I just didn't know exactly where they were.

"Jade?" Beck repeated.

"What happened?" I asked bluntly, my voice a small whisper.

"Oh, she's okay, she's okay," Robbie said suddenly, backing up and hugging Tori, who returned it awkwardly.

"We thought you weren't going to wake up. It's been about a week since we found you, Jade. You weren't healing for a while, so we assumed your powers were just taking some time to come back, but even after they did, you still remained unconscious," Beck explained.

"The doctors thought you might be having mental issues that were taking a while to recover from. Do you remember having any specific dreams about anything?" Tori asked.

_Yes. I talked to an angel that rejected me from both heaven and hell_.

"Nope," I lied.

"That's okay. We're just glad you're back," André's voice came and I saw him getting off of a chair in the corner next to Trina. "You did good, girl."

"Yep," everyone echoed quietly.

"So we'll let you get your rest and stuff now that we know you didn't get stuck in a permanent coma," Beck said, smiling and everyone started filing out the door of the room.

_Hold on…I still have some questions for you_…

My boyfriend laughed as Tori was the last to exit besides him: "And don't worry. You'll get your answers soon. I promise."

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**It suddenly occurred to me that we haven't really heard much about Tori's powers...so I decided to stick it in this one. Heehee. And with Robbie regaining his ability, it worked out perfectly! :) If only the rest of the story could. And the next one. **

**By the way, I have a poll on my profile. If you read _Look at What You've Done_ and you're interested in reading another mystery story by me (no, it's not a sequel to it), then please vote for the pairing you'd rather have it be based around. Thanks!**


	20. Past, Present, Future

**I changed the last part of the previous chapter because I didn't want to be stuck writing yet another scene in a hospital. There's already way too many of those in this story, so I wanted things to be different, especially with this being the last chapter. :D**

**Thank you to: spezria26, BelletheWickedWitch, and heythere for you reviews of wise words. :) I dedicate the last chapter to the three of you.**

**Enjoy the ending of _Trigger_. I hope you all liked the story. I do plan on re-writing certain parts (like adding detail to fights, more character interactions, etc.), but nothing super big. So you might be seeing some minor changes in this over the next few weeks. It's for the best, I promise. ;)**

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CHAPTER 19  
Jade's POV

I was released from the hospital the next day. The doctors and nurses were incredibly shocked to see how fast I had recovered once I woke up, and almost didn't let me go, but eventually they did, under the circumstance that I come back every day for a week to make sure I didn't contract any viruses while I fought Archelaus in the snow. Because that can totally happen.

My friends gave me the final rundown of what exactly happened went on during our Archelaus mission. Apparently outside of the building, it was one of Archelaus's own Dimensioners, a weird man named Springer, who brought us inside (he had the blue smoke). While we were fighting the cronies in the hall, Archelaus came up to Robbie and touched his face, taking away his powers and dimensioning out of the room in the five-second interval an Electrictor, someone who could control electricity and also keep electronics from working, caused, also screwing up André's tracking devices.

The rest is history after that.

Beck moved in to my apartment, so we spent a few days buying and re-arranging furniture to accommodate two people. He also threw out my entire stash of beer and other alcoholic drinks without my consent and replaced it with sparkling water, saying that he wasn't comfortable with me drinking a six-pack a night, which was an exaggeration anyway.

Meanwhile, Robbie took Tori and Trina back to California for a brief period of time so Tori could prove to her parents that she'd fulfilled her promise to them. Apparently they had begged her to stay, but she chose to come and live with Trina in the apartment next to ours. I didn't mind as much as I should've, but I had Beck so it was okay.

André stayed in his lab the few miles away from Hawthorn Lake, claiming that he was perfectly fine by himself, but he still had Robbie to keep him company if he wished. The geeky Dimensioner and his puppet lived in the building opposite of the one André's lab was in, and apparently, he had seen Tori and I fighting that gang in the alley from his window. The next day (when we were in New York) he had approached André asking if we were okay, eventually becoming part of the 'team.'

Sikowitz and his little posse were re-elected into power, and Agency started back up. They asked us if we wanted to join, because we proved to be worthy after destroying Archelaus, but we declined, saying we'd rather not be involved in situations like that ever again.

The first act they enforced was to get rid of the remaining Rebellion. No one but them knows exactly what happened to the calibers, but we had a hunch that it had something to do with either brainwashing them or if they refused, being thrown into jail for a long time.

After Tori and Robbie had rescued me, they left Archelaus to continue falling to his doom. He hit the water dead-on and split into a few hundred pieces, which were gathered up by newly chosen Agency members, just before he could put himself back together with my Regenator powers. They were now being kept under a special watch even though I had my ability back, which meant he no longer had it, but no one was going to risk any chances with that guy.

The amount of money I received for being the one to finally kill Archelaus and to keep quiet about the events was so large my mind still had trouble comprehending the massive line of numbers every time I thought about it.

I split it with my friends, and Tori was so excited she gave me a hug that almost popped my head off. André spent the money to upgrade his lab, and Robbie took Trina out on a date in Paris.

Even though I technically didn't have to work anymore for almost the rest of my life if I spent the money wisely, I still wanted to help people in Orlando and put baddies behind bars. That was my unofficial job. It was fun and rewarding.

And now I had partners to do it with.

Beck was very hesitant about me returning to work, but I continuously told him that I would be perfectly fine and safe. Tori usually went with me, and even her sister, who turned out to be a total diva, expressed concern in making sure the mission was never too dangerous for her. It's the thought that counts, right?

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Today we were going to catch a robber who had stolen money from almost every bank in the city. She was always one step ahead, laying traps the police would fall in and planning escapes that involved car, trucks, and even a helicopter once. André managed to figure out where she would strike next, and Tori and I would hopefully be able to meet her there first.

I was putting on my black leather jacket, brushing my hair out with a comb in the shared bedroom when Beck came inside.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi."

"Where are you heading with Tori today?" he asked curiously, walking closer to me and sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Going to catch a robber."

"Right."

I turned around, looking for Tori's necklace on the nightstand. It wasn't there. Glancing at the floor and on the covers, it wasn't there either. "Have you seen my necklace?" I asked him.

"This?" He held up the shiny chain, the tags at the end clacking against each other. One of them read 'Tori Vega' and Tori had the other engraved to say 'Jade West.' I always kept them tucked into my shirt when we went out; it was kind of a good luck charm to me.

"Yeah." I went to take it from his hand, but he didn't let go. "What?"

"I'm surprised you didn't ask me sooner," he said slowly, releasing his tight grip.

"Ask about what?"

"Why this necklace was so significant to you…and me."

At that moment, there was a knock at the door, followed by someone saying, "I'm here!" I stayed frozen to my spot, listening to the gate swing open as Tori entered. She came up to the entryway of the room, looking at me eagerly.

"Are we going to go now or…?" her voice trailed off when she saw Beck.

"Hold on, kiddo. I need to talk to my boyfriend first," I warned her.

"She can stay. This involves her, after all," Beck interrupted.

"What? What involves me?" Tori looked alarmed, thinking that she was in trouble. I waved the dog tags in her face, and she relaxed, leaning up against the wall and waiting for Beck to continue.

"The importance of that goes back a while ago. It involved Cat." My ears perked up when I heard the name of my now-dead best friend (besides Beck, of course). Tori raised her eyebrow in confusion; I realized I had never discussed the matter with her.

"Because Cat was a Predicter, she had this vision, after Archelaus started taking over about eight or nine years ago. There were two girls, who when working together, would be the only hope in taking him down." Beck paused, taking a deep breath and looking at our reactions.

I was standing there, my mouth hanging open like an idiot, while Tori looked absolutely thrilled to be a part of some nine-year-old prophecy. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as he continued.

"At the time this occurred, we had no idea who either of you were; it was just that you two were the key to end the chaos. That is, until we both entered high school and met Jade at Hollywood Arts."

A thought rushed into my mind, and I didn't think twice before letting it out. "So the only reason you dated me was because of this dream Cat had?" I asked hotly.

"No, no, not at all!" he pleaded, standing up as I took a step backwards towards the exit. "We didn't even know how true the vision was going to be! I didn't mean it like that. If anything, being your boyfriend actually helped us, not hurt us."

My mind kept screaming that he was a traitor, and I walked up to the door, but Tori was standing in the way and she looked determined not to move.

"Get out of my way, kid."

"Maybe you should listen to what else he has to say," she said in a small voice. I was a few inches taller than her, but easily much more stronger and could toss her out of the way if I had to.

"Jade, can you just give me thirty seconds and I'll explain everything?" Beck begged.

"Twenty-nine, twenty-eight," I counted off.

He rushed into the rest of his story. "Okay, so besides that, we didn't know who Tori was, except for the fact that the both of you were going to meet each other one day, after we were taken by Archelaus. We needed to figure out a way to get you both to become friends, which wasn't going to be easy.

"Cat came up with an idea that if you, Jade, didn't remember her or me, you'd begin to trust Tori if she was the one who helped remember us. It was common sense that you would help her back, especially since we had a big impact on your life.

"Dating you was never supposed to happen, but it made the plan a lot easier in the end. Because we were so close to you, it would be easy to trigger you, which actually could've happened at any point but we chose to save it for the day we were recruited."

"I guess that makes sense," I grumbled.

"But technically, I set off her trigger a while after we had met," Tori pointed out.

"Yes, however, I know for a fact that Jade was wanting to leave you, especially after all the failed missions you had," Beck had with a small smile, and I scowled at how accurate he was. "You set if off at the perfect time."

"Cool." She was satisfied.

"Now you guys might be wondering why it was you two, of all the Regenators and Predicters in the world, to be chosen," he began, ready to go off on another explanation.

"First off, there needed to be a Regenator to fight Archelaus, because there would be a much slimmer chance of any type of caliber to survive. But it didn't matter which type Tori was. The only thing that did was that she had Archelaus's DNA.

"That bracelet of Trina's had his blood. She brought it to Jade, who knew André, who could track him down with the equipment in his lab, which was technically the easy part. Without the sample, Archelaus would still be taking his army and trying to take over the world. Everything after that is pretty much history, right?"

"Wow," Tori said in obvious awe. "I knew you should've helped me, Jade. I told you, and even when you left me I still waited."

"You did not. I _found_ you crying your eyes out in a freaking alley," I retorted.

"That was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do Jade," Beck interrupted our banter. "Triggering you and knowing that you wouldn't remember me for who knows how long was absolutely heartbreaking."

I went over to him and put my arms around him a tight hug.

"I forgive you."

"Thank you," he breathed back in my hair.

"This all happened because of Cat," I said suddenly, breaking away. "And she's dead, right?"

"I never saw her after Archelaus came. We were split up. But I heard rumors in the base. Not only was he raising an army, but he liked to conduct experiments that would help him and test them out on calibers that absolutely refused to join his Rebellion. I think Cat might've been one of them."

"Archelaus did tell me something about that when we were fighting in the snow. He said that even I wouldn't be able to survive what he did to her."

"She never told me anymore, but she knew the consequences of what could happen once we were recruited. I'm just sad to say that they actually happened."

"Okay. Come on, Tori."

"Be careful!" he called as we exited the apartment.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

The air was nice and warm on my face as I stood there on the balcony. Tori was standing next to my side, looking out just like I was.

"Are we going yet?"

"Give me a few minutes to let all the info sink in, kid."

"Sure." She put her hands on the railing and leaned forward, rocking back and turning to me. "I forgot how nice it is here in Orlando. I doubt Trina and I will move back, even though technically I should still be in school."

"Do what you want. Who's going to stop you?"

"Aren't you supposed to be a _good_ role model?"

I turned to face her. "I never said I was a role model. I'm just your friend, Tori. I think putting criminals in jail is a good enough influence on anyone, if you ask me."

Tori laughed quietly. "You are quite an interesting person, Jade."

"Yeah, well," I pretended to be embarrassed and blushed, reaching over and playfully pushing her shoulder.

"So are you happy with your life now? Especially since you've got your Beck back?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Hmm. You gonna teach me how to get guys like him? He seems to be quite the keeper."

"Jealous?"

"Why not?" She didn't try to hide her feelings.

"I can tell Robbie likes you, but he's kind of odd and a little too old for you, huh?"

She nodded.

"André's only twenty. That's only a three-year difference, versus six with Rob. Are you interested in either of them?" I asked, genuinely interested in helping her out with her social life. She turned a bright shade of red, looking awkwardly at her hands. "Well, you don't need to decide so fast, kid. You're young. You've got time."

"So have you. You're not going to die anytime soon, huh?"

"Please. I'm twenty-three. That's not even old." I looked up at the dark night sky, admiring how bright the stars were against the contrasting black. Tori did the same, a goofy smile spreading on her lips. "Are you ready to go now?"

"Yep."

I started walking down the empty hall, when she called my name.

"Jade?"

"Huh?"

Tori ran up to me, flinging her arms around my waist and hugging me tightly. I stiffened at first, not use to much contact besides Beck, but I relaxed and returned it with much force.

"Thanks for everything," she mumbled, slightly out of breath.

I laughed, feeling the cold dog tags press against my chest from inside my shirt. "And thanks, Tori, for pulling my trigger."

* * *

THE END.

* * *

**Haha, so Jade finally started calling Tori by her actual name. :')**

**So just stick around. Thank you to everyone who stayed with my story. I hope to see you all again reading the sequel, whenever that comes out.**

**If you have any questions, comments, concerns, etc., leave me a review or P.M., and I'll answer you as soon as possible. **

**Love you guys!  
-SeaIng (is believing)**

***Note: _Trigger_'s sequel is called _Predicter _and is available to read as of 9/27/12_  
_**


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